27 Bible Verses about Prayer, Doubts About

And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Lord, why have you brought evil upon this people? why is it that you have sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people; neither have you delivered your people at all.

And Abram said, Lord GOD, what will you give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me you have given no descendants: and, lo, one born in my house is my heir.

And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord GOD, why have you at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelled on the other side of Jordan! O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turns their backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall surround us, and cut off our name from the earth: and what will you do for your great name?

And Moses said unto the LORD, Why have you afflicted your servant? and why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people upon me? Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that you should say unto me, Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse bears the nursing child, unto the land which you swore to give unto their fathers? From where should I have flesh to give unto all this people? for they weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat.read more.
I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. And if you deal thus with me, kill me, I pray you, out of hand, if I have found favor in your sight; and let me not see my wretchedness.

But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.

O LORD, you know: remember me, and visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in your longsuffering: know that for your sake I have suffered rebuke. Your words were found, and I did eat them; and your word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart: for I am called by your name, O LORD God of hosts. I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of your hand: for you have filled me with indignation.read more.
Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? will you be altogether unto me as a deceitful brook, and as waters that fail?

O LORD, you have deceived me, and I was deceived: you are stronger than I, and have prevailed: I am in derision daily, everyone mocks me. For since I spoke, I cried out, I cried violence and plunder; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily. Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary from holding it back, and I could not.

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray you, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and you relent from the destruction. Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech you, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

[To the Chief Musician upon aijeleth shahar. A Psalm of David.] My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?

I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; show me why you contend with me. Is it good unto you that you should oppress, that you should despise the work of your hands, and smile upon the counsel of the wicked? Have you eyes of flesh? or see you as man sees?read more.
Are your days as the days of man? are your years as man's days, That you inquire after my iniquity, and search after my sin? You know that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of your hand. Your hands have made me and fashioned me together totally; yet you do destroy me. Remember, I beseech you, that you have made me as the clay; and will you bring me into dust again? Have you not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese? You have clothed me with skin and flesh, and have knit me together with bones and sinews. You have granted me life and favor, and your care has preserved my spirit. And these things have you hid in your heart: I know that this is with you. If I sin, then you mark me, and you will not acquit me from my iniquity. If I am wicked, woe unto me; and if I am righteous, yet can I not lift up my head. I am full of disgrace; therefore see my affliction; For it increases. You hunt me as a fierce lion: and again you show yourself awesome against me. You renew your witnesses against me, and increase your indignation upon me; changes and war are ever with me. Why then have you brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had died, and no eye had seen me! I would have been as though I had not been; I would have been carried from the womb to the grave. Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little, Before I go where I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death; A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.

Only do not two things unto me: then will I not hide myself from you. Withdraw your hand far from me: and let not your dread make me afraid. Then call, and I will answer: or let me speak, and you answer me.read more.
How many are my iniquities and sins? make me know my transgression and my sin. Why hide you your face, and hold me for your enemy? Will you break a leaf driven to and fro? and will you pursue the dry stubble? For you write bitter things against me, and make me possess the iniquities of my youth. You put my feet also in the stocks, and watch closely all my paths; you set a bound to the soles of my feet.

Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He comes forth like a flower, and is cut down: he flees also as a shadow, and continues not. And do you open your eyes upon such a one, and bring me into judgment with you?read more.
Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? no one. Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with you, you have appointed his bounds that he cannot pass; Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as a hireling, his day. For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender shoots thereof will not cease. Though its root grows old in the earth, and its stump dies in the ground; Yet at the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth branches like a plant. But man dies, and wastes away: yea, man expires, and where is he? As the waters fail from the sea, and the river decays and dries up: So man lies down, and rises not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. O that you would hide me in the grave, that you would conceal me, until your wrath is past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man dies, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change comes. You shall call, and I will answer you: you will have a desire to the work of your hands. For now you number my steps: do not watch over my sin. My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and you sew up my iniquity. And surely the mountain falling, comes to nothing, and the rock is removed out of its place. The waters wear the stones: you wash away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and you destroy the hope of man. You prevail forever against him, and he passes: you change his countenance, and send him away. His sons come to honor, and he knows it not; and they are brought low, but he perceives it not of them. But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn.

[To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.] How long will you forget me, O LORD? forever? how long will you hide your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

I will say unto God my rock, Why have you forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? As with a sword in my bones, my enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is your God?

Yea, for your sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Awake, why sleep you, O Lord? arise, cast us not off forever. Why hide you your face, and forget our affliction and our oppression?read more.
For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our body cleaves unto the earth. Arise for our help, and redeem us for your mercies' sake.

Will the Lord cast off forever? and will he be favorable no more? Is his mercy ceased forever? does his promise fail forevermore? Has God forgotten to be gracious? has he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.

O LORD God of hosts, how long will you be angry against the prayer of your people? You feed them with the bread of tears; and give them tears to drink in great measure. You make us a strife unto our neighbors: and our enemies laugh among themselves.

You have laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deep. Your anger lies hard upon me, and you have afflicted me with all your waves. Selah. You have put away my acquaintance far from me; you have made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.read more.
My eye mourns by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon you, I have stretched out my hands unto you.

O LORD, how long shall I cry, and you will not hear! even cry out unto you of violence, and you will not save! Why do you show me iniquity, and cause me to behold trouble? for plundering and violence are before me: and there are those that raise up strife and contention.

And Abram said, Lord GOD, what will you give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me you have given no descendants: and, lo, one born in my house is my heir. And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be your heir; but he that shall come forth out of your own body shall be your heir.read more.
And he brought him forth outside, and said, Look now toward heaven, and count the stars, if you be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall your descendants be.

Then the LORD said unto Moses, Now shall you see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land. And God spoke unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD: And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name the LORD was I not known to them.read more.
And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, in which they were strangers. And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant. Therefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with great judgments: And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it to you for a heritage: I am the LORD.

And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time. And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.read more.
But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baked on the coals, and a jar of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid himself down again. And the angel of the LORD came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for you. And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.

Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said, Shall he that contends with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproves God, let him answer it. Then Job answered the LORD, and said,read more.
Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer you? I will lay my hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further. Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Gird up your loins now like a man: I will demand of you, and declare you unto me. Will you also annul my judgment? will you condemn me, that you may be righteous? Have you an arm like God? or can you thunder with a voice like him?

Therefore thus says the LORD, If you return, then will I bring you again, and you shall stand before me: and if you take forth the precious from the vile, you shall be as my mouth: let them return unto you; but return not you unto them. And I will make you unto this people a fortified bronze wall: and they shall fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you: for I am with you to save you and to deliver you, says the LORD. And I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you out of the hand of the terrible.

Behold you among the nations, and regard, and wonder and be astonished: for I will work a work in your days, which you will not believe, though it be told you. For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the earth, to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs. They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed from themselves.read more.
Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen press proudly on, their horsemen shall come from afar; they shall fly as the eagle that hastens to eat. They shall all come for violence: their faces are set like the east wind, and they shall gather captives as the sand. And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every stronghold; for they shall heap up earth, and take it. Then shall his mind change, and he shall transgress, and offend, ascribing this his power unto his god.