27 Bible Verses about Prayer, Doubts About

Moses went back to Jehovah and asked: Why have you brought this trouble on your people? Why did you send me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak for you, he has treated your people cruelly, and you have done nothing at all to rescue your people.

Abram said: O Jehovah God, what will you give me? I continue childless! The heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus. Abram also said: You have given me no offspring. So a slave born in my house is to be my heir.

Joshua said: Alas, Sovereign Lord Jehovah, why did you bring this people across the Jordan. Was it to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would to God we had been content to dwell on the other side of the Jordan! O Jehovah, what shall I say, when Israel turned their backs before its enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear about it, and will surround us and cut our name off from the earth. What will you do for your great name?

So he asked: Jehovah, why have you brought me this trouble? How have I displeased you that you put the burden of all these people on me? Am I their mother? Did I give birth to them? Are you really asking me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries a baby, all the way to the land you promised their ancestors with an oath? Where can I get meat for all these people? They continually cry for me to give them meat to eat.read more.
I am not able to take care of all these people by myself. This is too much work for me! If you treat me like this have pity on me and kill me. That way I will not have to endure my shame any longer.

Elijah walked a whole day into the wilderness. He stopped and sat down under a broom plant and wished he would die. It is just too much, Jehovah, he prayed. Take away my life. I could just as well be dead.

Then I said: O Jehovah you understand. Remember me and help me. Let me have revenge on those who persecute me. Do not be so patient with them that they succeed in killing me. Remember that it is for your sake that I have suffered reproach. You spoke to me, and I listened to every word. I belong to you, Lord Jehovah. Your words filled my heart with joy and happiness. I did not spend my time with other people laughing and having a good time. In obedience to your orders I stayed by myself and was filled with anger.read more.
Why do I suffer constant pain? Why is my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will you indeed be to me like a deceptive stream with water that is unreliable?

O Jehovah, You have deceived me. I was deceived! You have overcome me and prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me. Each time I speak, I cry aloud. I proclaim violence and destruction! For me the word of Jehovah has resulted in reproach and derision all day long. But if I say: I will not remember him or speak anymore in his name, then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in. I cannot endure it.

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly. He was angry! He prayed to Jehovah: I pray to you, O Jehovah, was this what I said, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I hurried to flee to Tarshish. Because I knew that you are a gracious God. You are merciful, slow to anger, abundant in loving kindness, and one who takes pity over calamity (tragedy) (catastrophe) (disaster). Now, O Jehovah, please take my life from me for it is better for me to die than to live.

About the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? Which (translated) means: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

At the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying: Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? Interpreted it means, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

([Psalm of David]) My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far away from my deliverance, so far away from the words of my moaning?

I will say to God: 'Do not condemn me, but tell me what charges you have against me. Does it please you to oppress me, to spurn the work of your hands, while you smile on the schemes of the wicked? Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as a man sees?read more.
Are your days like those of a mortal or are your years like those of a man? Must you search out my faults and probe after my sin? You know that I am not guilty and that no one can force me from your hand! Your hands formed me and made me. Will you now turn and destroy me? Remember that you molded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust again? Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese, clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews? You granted me life and showed me kindness. Your providence preserved my spirit. Yet this is what you concealed in your heart, and I know that this was in your mind: If I sinned, you would be watching me and would not let my offense go unpunished. If I am wicked, woe to me! Even if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head, for I am full of shame and aware of my affliction. If I hold my head high, you stalk me like a lion and again display your awesome power against me. You bring new witnesses against me and increase your anger toward me. Your forces come against me wave upon wave. Why then did you bring me out of the womb? I wish I had died before anyone saw me. If only I had never come into being, or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave!' Are not my days few in number? Turn away from me so I can have a moment's joy before I go to the place of no return, to the land of darkness and the shadow of death, to the land of dark night, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.

Only grant me these two things, O God, and then I will not hide from you: Withdraw your hand far from me, and stop frightening me with your terrors. Then summon me and I will answer, or let me speak, and you reply.read more.
How many wrongs and sins have I committed? Show me my transgressions and my sin. Why do you hide your face and consider me your enemy? Will you torment a leaf driven two and fro? Will you chase after dry chaff? You write down bitter things against me and make me inherit the sins of my youth. You fasten my feet in shackles. You keep close watch on all my paths by putting marks on the soles of my feet.

Man born of woman, lives a short life that is full of trouble. He springs up like a flower and fades away. He is like a fleeting shadow and does not endure. Do you look on such a person? Will you bring him before you for judgment?read more.
Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one! Man's days are determined. You have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed. So look away from him and let him alone, till he has put in his time like a hired man. At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail. Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth growth like a plant. On the other hand man dies and is laid low. He breathes his last and is no more! Just like water that disappears from the sea or a riverbed that becomes parched and dry, so men lie down and do not rise. Until the heavens are no more, men will not awake or be roused from their sleep. If only you would hide me in the grave (Sheol) and conceal me till your anger has passed! If only you would set a time for me and then remember me! If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my change (release) to come. You will call and I will answer you! You will long for the creature your hands have made. Surely then you will count my steps but not keep track of my sin. My transgressions will be sealed up in a bag. You will cover over my sin. As a mountain erodes and crumbles and as a rock is moved from its place, as water wears away stones and torrents wash away the soil, so you destroy man's hope. You overpower him once and for all, and he is gone! You change his countenance and send him away. His sons are honored and he does not know it. They are brought low and he does not see it. He feels but the pain of his own body and mourns only for himself.

([Psalm of David]) How long, O Jehovah? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I make decisions alone with sorrow in my heart day after day? How long will my enemy triumph over me?

I will ask God, my rock: Why have you forgotten me? Why must I walk around in mourning while the enemy oppresses me? As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me, while they say to me all day long: Where is your God?

We are being killed all day long because of you. We are thought of as sheep to be slaughtered. Wake up! Why are you sleeping, O Jehovah? Awake! Do not reject us forever! Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our suffering and misery?read more.
We are bowing in the dust. Our bodies cling to the ground. Arise! Help us! Rescue us because of your loving kindness!

Will Jehovah reject us forever? Will he be favorable no more? Has his loving kindness vanished forever? Does his promise fail for generations? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he, in anger, withheld his compassion?

O Jehovah God, commander of armies, how long will you be angry against the prayer of your people? You made them eat tears as food. You often made them drink their own tears. You made us a source of conflict to our neighbors. Our enemies make fun of us.

You have put me in the bottom of the pit, in deep dark places. Your rage lies heavily on me. You afflict me with all your waves. You have taken my friends far away from me. You made me disgusting to them. I am shut in, and I cannot get out.read more.
My eyes grow weak because of my suffering. All day long I call out to you, O Jehovah. I stretch out my hands to you in prayer.

How long, O Jehovah (YHWH), will I call for help and you do not hear? I cry out to you, save me from violence! And yet you do not save. Why do you make me see wickedness and immorality? Destruction and violence are before me. Strife exists and contention arises.

Abram said: O Jehovah God, what will you give me? I continue childless! The heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus. Abram also said: You have given me no offspring. So a slave born in my house is to be my heir. The word of Jehovah came to him: This man shall not be your heir. No one but your very own issue shall be your heir.read more.
He brought him outside and said: Look toward heaven and count the stars. Are you able to count them? He continued: So shall your descendants be.

Jehovah said to Moses: Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh. I will show him my power. He will let my people go! I will show him my power, and he will throw them out of his country. God spoke further to Moses and said to him: I am Jehovah. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name, Jehovah, I did not make myself known to them.read more.
I also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as foreigners. Furthermore I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel. This is because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage. I have remembered my covenant. Tell the sons of Israel: 'I am Jehovah. I will bring you out from under the oppression of the Egyptians. I will free you from slavery! I will rescue you with my powerful arm and with mighty acts of judgment.' I will make you my people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am Jehovah your God. I brought you out from under the forced labor of the Egyptians. I will bring you to the land I solemnly swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will give it to you as your own possession. I am Jehovah!'

King Ahab told his wife Jezebel everything Elijah had done. He told how he put all the prophets of Baal to death. She sent a message to Elijah: May the gods strike me dead if by this time tomorrow I do not do the same thing to you that you did to the prophets. Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He took his servant and went to Beersheba in Judah. He left the servant there.read more.
Elijah walked a whole day into the wilderness. He stopped and sat down under a broom plant and wished he would die. It is just too much, Jehovah, he prayed. Take away my life. I could just as well be dead. Stretching himself on the earth, he went to sleep under the broom-plant. An angel touched him and said: Get up and eat some food. Looking up, he saw near his head a cake cooked on coals and a bottle of water. So he ate food and drink water and went to sleep again. The angel of Jehovah came again a second time, and touched him and said: Get up and have some food, or you will not have strength for the journey. So he got up and took food and drink. He was strengthened to go for forty days and forty nights, to Horeb, the mountain of God.

JEHOVAH SPEAKS TO JOB: Will the person who finds fault with the Almighty correct him? Will the person who argues with God answer him? JOB ANSWERED JEHOVAH:read more.
I am so insignificant. How can I answer you? I will put my hand over my mouth. I spoke once, but I cannot answer twice. I will proceed no further. He spoke out of a storm: Brace yourself like a man! I will ask you, and you will teach me. Would you undo my justice? Would you condemn me so that you can be righteous? Do you have an arm (power) like God's? Can your voice thunder like his?

Therefore Jehovah says: If you return I will restore you. You will stand before me. If you extract the precious from the worthless, you will become my spokesman. They for their part may turn to you. But you must not turn to them. I will make you a fortified wall of copper to these people. Though they fight against you, they will not prevail over you. For I am with you to save you and deliver you, declares Jehovah. I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked. I will redeem you from the grasp of the cruel.

Look among the nations, watch, and be amazed. Though you are told you will not believe the work I do today. Behold, I bring the Chaldeans to power, that bitter and impetuous nation. They march through the expanse of the earth to possess dwelling places that are not theirs. They are feared and dreaded. Their justice and dignity are of their own being.read more.
Their horses are swifter than leopards. They are fiercer than the evening wolves. Their horsemen proudly press on. Yes, their horsemen come from afar. They fly like an eagle in a hurry to eat. They all come for violence. Their crowds look straight ahead and gather prisoners like the sand. They scoff at kings, and princes are derision to them. They laugh at every stronghold, for they build earthen ramps and capture them. They will sweep by like a wind and continue on. They will be held guilty for might is their god.