11 Bible Verses about Unwise Prayers

And Abraham drew near, and said, Will thou consume righteous men with wicked men? Perhaps there are fifty righteous men within the city. Will thou consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous men that are in it? That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay a righteous man with a wicked man, that so the righteous man should be as the wicked man. Far be it from thee. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?read more.
And LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous men within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sake. And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak to the Lord, who am but dust and ashes. Perhaps there shall lack five of the fifty righteous men. Will thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, I will not destroy it, if I find there forty-five. And he spoke to him yet again, and said, Perhaps there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for the forty's sake. And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Perhaps there shall be thirty found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there. And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak to the Lord. Perhaps there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for the twenty's sake. And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once. Perhaps ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for the ten's sake.

And Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he did not prevail against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was strained as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaks. And he said, I will not let thee go unless thou bless me.read more.
And he said to him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel, for thou have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed. And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Why is it that thou ask for my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, for, I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

Then David the king went in, and sat before LORD. And he said, Who am I, O lord LORD, and what is my house, that thou have brought me thus far? And this was yet a small thing in thine eyes, O lord LORD, but thou have spoken also of thy servant's house for a great while to come, and this [too] according to the manner of men, O lord LORD! And what can David say more to thee? For thou know thy servant, O lord LORD.read more.
For thy word's sake, and according to thine own heart, thou have wrought all this greatness, to make thy servant know it. Therefore thou are great, O LORD God, for there is none like thee, neither is there any God besides thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And what one nation on the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem to himself for a people, and to make him a name, and to do great things for you, and awesome things for thy land, before thy people whom And thou established to thyself thy people Israel to be a people to thee forever, and thou, LORD, became their God. And now, O LORD God, the word that thou have spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, confirm it forever, and do as thou have spoken. And let thy name be magnified forever, saying, LORD of hosts is God over Israel, and the house of thy servant David shall be established before thee. For thou, O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee a house. Therefore thy servant has found in his heart to pray this prayer to thee. And now, O lord LORD, thou are God, and thy words are truth, and thou have promised this good thing to thy servant. Now therefore let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue forever before thee, for thou, O lord LORD, have spoken it. And with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed forever.

And Solomon stood before the altar of LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven. And he said, O LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with thy servants, who walk before thee with all their heart, who have kept with thy servant David my father that which thou did promise him. Yea, thou spoke with thy mouth, and have fulfilled it with thy hand, as it is this day.read more.
Now therefore, O LORD, the God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that which thou have promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only thy sons take heed to th Now therefore, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified, which thou spoke to thy servant David my father. But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee. How much less this house that I have built! Yet have thou respect to the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken to the cry and to the prayer which thy servant prays before thee this day, that thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place whereof thou have said, My name shall be there, to hearken to the prayer which thy servant shall pray toward this place. And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place. Yea, hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and when thou hear, forgive. If a man sins against his neighbor, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and he comes [and] swears before thine altar in this house, then hear thou in heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way upon his own head, and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness. When thy people Israel are smitten down before the enemy because they have sinned against thee, if they turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray and make supplication to thee in this house, then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again to the land which thou gave to their fathers. When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain because they have sinned against thee, if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin when thou afflict them, then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk, and send rain upon thy land, which thou have given to thy people for an inheritanc If there be famine in the land, if there be pestilence, if there be blight, mildew, locust [or] caterpillar, if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities, whatever plague, whatever sickness there be, whatever prayer and supplication be made by any man, [or] by all thy people Israel, who shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house, then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and forgive, and do, and render to every man according to all his ways, whose heart thou know (for thou, even thou only, know the hearts of all the sons of men), that they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gave to our fathers. Moreover concerning the foreigner who is not of thy people Israel, when he shall come out of a far country for thy name's sake (for they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy mighty hand, and of thine outstretched arm), when he shall come and pray toward this house, hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to thee for, that all the peoples of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as does thy people Israel, and that they may know that this ho If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way thou shall send them, and they pray to LORD toward the city which thou have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for thy name, then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. If they sin against thee (for there is no man that sins not), and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive to the land of the enemy, afar off or near, yet if they shall rethink themselves in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication to thee in the land of those who carried them captive, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have if they return to thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who carried them captive, and pray to thee toward their land, which thou gave to their fathers, the city which thou have chosen, and t then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling-place, and maintain their case, and forgive thy people who have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions by which they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them (for they are thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou brought forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron); that thine eyes may be open to the supplication of thy servant, and to the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken to them whenever they cry to thee. For thou separated them from among all the peoples of the earth, to be thine inheritance, as thou spoke by Moses thy servant when thou brought our fathers out of Egypt, O lord LORD. And it was so, that, when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication to LORD, he arose from before the altar of LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread forth toward heaven. And he stood, and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying, Blessed be LORD, who has given rest to his people Israel according to all that he promised. There has not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by Moses his servant. LORD our God be with us as he was with our fathers. Let him not leave us, nor forsake us, that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his ordinances, which he commanded our fathers. And let these my words, with which I have made supplication before LORD, be near to LORD our God day and night, that he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel, as every day shall require, that all the peoples of the earth may know that LORD, he is God; there is none else. Let your heart therefore be perfect with LORD our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.

And it came to pass as he was in a certain place praying, that when he ceased, a certain man of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples. And he said to them, When ye pray, say, Our Father in the heavens, hallowed be thy name. May thy kingdom come, may thy will happen on the earth as also in heaven. Give us our bread sufficient for each day.read more.
And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive every man who is indebted to us. And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And he said to them, Which of you will have a friend, and will go to him at midnight, and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves, since a friend arrived from the road to me, and I do not have what I would set before him, and that man from inside, having answered, would say, Do not cause toils for me. The door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I am not able, after getting up, to give thee? I say to you, though he will not give him, after getting up, because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, having awaken, he will give him as many as he needs. And I say to you, ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and ye will find. Knock, and it will be opened. For every man who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. And which father of you, if the son will ask a loaf, will give him a stone, or also if a fish, in place of a fish will give him a serpent? Or if he should ask for an egg, will he give him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more the Father from heaven will give Holy Spirit to those who ask him?

And he also spoke a parable to them about it being necessary to always pray, and not to give up, saying, In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God, and did not regard man. And a widow was in that city, and she came to him, saying, Avenge me of my opponent.read more.
And for a time he would not, but after these things he said within himself, Although I fear not God, and regard not man, yet because this widow causes me a beating, I will avenge her, lest by no end of coming she give me a black eye. And the Lord said, Hear ye what the unrighteous judge says. And God, will he, no, not do the vengeance of his chosen who cry out to him day and night, and yet being patient toward them? I say to you, that he will do their vengeance speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man comes, will he then find faith on the earth?

Jesus spoke these things, and he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy Son, that the Son may also glorify thee, just as thou gave him authority over all flesh, so that all things that thou have given him, he will give them eternal life. And this is eternal life, that they should know thee the only TRUE God, and Jesus Christ whom thou sent.read more.
I glorified thee on the earth. I finished the work which thou have given me that I should do. And now, Father, glorify thou me with thyself with the glory that I had with thee before the world was. I manifested thy name to the men whom thou gave me out of the world. They were thine, and thou gave them to me, and they have kept thy word. Now they know that all things, as many as thou gave me are from thee. Because the sayings that thou gave to me, I gave to them. And they received them, and knew truly that I came forth from thee, and they believed that thou sent me. I pray about them. I do not pray about the world, but about whom thou have given me, because they are for thee. And all my things are thy things, and thy things are my things, and I am glorified in them. And I am no more in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name that thou have given to me, so that they may be one, just as we. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name. Whom thou gave to me, I kept, and none of them was destroyed, except the son of destruction, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. And now I come to thee. And I speak these things in the world, so that they may have my joy fulfilled in them. I have given them thy word, and the world hated them, because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou should take them out of the world, but that thou should keep them from the evil. They are not of the world just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in thy truth. Thy word is truth. Just as thou sent me into the world, so also I sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they may also themselves be sanctified in truth. And I pray not about these only, but also about those who believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, just as thou, Father, are in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou sent me. And I, the glory that thou have given me, I have given to them, so that they may be one, just as we are one, I in them, and thou in me, that they may be fully perfected in one, and so that the world may know that thou sent me, and loved them, just as thou loved me. Father, whom thou gave to me, I desire that where I am, they also may be with me, so that they may see my glory that thou have given me, because thou loved me before the foundation of the world. And righteous Father, the world does not know thee, but I know thee, and these know that thou sent me. And I made known to them thy name, and I will make it known, so that the love that thou loved me may be in them, and I in them.

And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favor in thy 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 no better than my

Therefore now, O LORD, I beseech thee, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.

And he said to her, What do thou want? She says to him, Speak that these my two sons may sit, one at thy right hand and one at thy left hand in thy kingdom.