11 Bible Verses about Unwise Prayers

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

And Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. And when the man saw that he did not prevail against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was disjointed as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaks. And he said, I will not let thee go except thou bless me.read more.
And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for thou hast fought with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Why dost thou ask after 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 soul was saved.

Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and he said, O Lord GOD, Who am I and what is my house that thou hast brought me thus far? And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord GOD; but thou hast spoken also of thy slave's house for a great while to come and that this shall be the condition of a man, O Lord GOD. And what more can David say unto thee? For thou, Lord GOD, knowest thy slave.read more.
For thou hast done all these great things by thy word and according to thine own heart to make thy slave know them. Therefore, thou art great, O LORD God, for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And who in the earth is like thy people, like Israel? A Gentile for the love of whom God went to ransom as a people to himself and to give him a name and to do with you great and terrible things in thy land because of thy people whom thou didst redeem unto thee from Egypt, from the Gentiles and their gods? For thou hast confirmed to thyself thy people Israel to be thy people for ever, and thou, LORD, have become their God. And now, O LORD God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy slave and concerning his house, raise it up for ever and do as thou hast said. For thus shall thy name be magnified for ever that it may be said, The LORD of the hosts is God over Israel and that the house of thy slave David be established before thee. For thou, O LORD of the hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to thy slave, saying, I will build thee a house. Therefore, thy slave has found it in his heart to pray this prayer in thy presence. And now, O Lord GOD, thou art God, and thy words shall be firm, and thou hast spoken this goodness unto thy slave. Therefore, now let it please thee to bless the house of thy slave that it may continue for ever before thee, for thou, O Lord GOD, hast spoken it, and with thy blessing the house of thy slave shall be blessed for ever.

And Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and extending his hands toward heaven, he said, LORD God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in the heavens above or on earth beneath, who keeps the covenant and mercy with thy slaves that walk before thee with all their heart, who hast kept unto thy slave David, my father, what thou didst declare unto him; thou didst say it with thy mouth and hast fulfilled it with thy hand, as we see this day.read more.
Therefore, now, LORD God of Israel, fulfill unto thy slave David, my father, what thou didst promise him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if thy sons keep their way, that they walk before me as thou hast walked before me. And now, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be made firm, which thou didst speak unto thy slave David, my father. But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heavens, the heavens of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have built? Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy slave and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, which thy slave prays before thee today, that thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there that thou may hearken unto the prayer which thy slave shall make in this place. Therefore, thou shalt hearken unto the supplication of thy slave and of thy people Israel when they shall pray in this place and hear in thy dwelling place, from the heavens; please hear and forgive. When anyone shall have sinned against his neighbour, and an oath is laid upon him to cause him to swear and the oath comes before thy altar in this house, thou shalt hear from heaven and do and judge thy slaves, condemning the wicked, to bring his way upon his 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 and shall turn again to thee and confess thy name and pray and make supplication with humility unto thee in this house, then thou shalt hear in the heavens and forgive the sin of thy people Israel and bring them again unto the land which thou didst give unto their fathers. When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against thee, if they pray in this place and confess thy name and turn from their sin when thou hast afflicted them, then thou shalt hear in the heavens and forgive the sin of thy slaves and of thy people Israel, teaching them the good way in which they should walk and shalt give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance. When there is famine in the land or pestilence or blasting or mildew or locusts or caterpillars, if their enemy besieges them in the land of their gates, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is, every prayer and every supplication made by any man or by all thy people Israel, when anyone knows the plague of his own heart and spreads forth his hands toward this house, then thou shalt hear in the heavens, in the habitation of thy dwelling place, and forgive and do and give to each one according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the sons of men), that they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou didst give unto our fathers. Likewise concerning a stranger, that is not of thy people Israel, but comes out of a far country for thy name's sake (for they shall have heard of thy great name and of thy strong hand and of thy stretched out arm), when he shall come to pray in this house, thou shalt hear in the heavens, in the habitation of thy dwelling place, and do according to all that for which the stranger shall have called unto thee, that all peoples of the earth may know thy name and fear thee as do thy people Israel and that they may know that thy name is invoked upon this house, which I have built. If thy people go out to battle against their enemies by the way which thou shalt send them and shall pray unto the LORD toward the city which thou hast chosen and toward the house that I have built for thy name, thou shalt hear in the heavens their prayer and their supplication and do their judgment. If they have sinned against thee (for there is no man that does not sin) and thou should be angry with them and deliver them to the enemy so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near, and they return unto their heart in the land where they were carried captives and return and make supplication unto thee in the land of those that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned and have done iniquity, we have committed wickedness; and so convert themselves unto thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who led them away captive and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou didst give unto their fathers, toward the city which thou hast chosen and the house which I have built for thy name, thou shalt hear in the heavens, in the habitation of thy dwelling place, their prayer and their supplication and do what is right unto them and forgive thy people that have sinned against thee and all their rebellions by which they have rebelled against thee and cause those who carried them captive to have mercy on them, for they are thy people and thy inheritance, which thou didst bring forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the iron furnace. Let thine eyes be open unto the supplication of thy slave and unto the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken unto them in all that they call for unto thee. For thou didst separate them from among all the peoples of the earth, to be thy inheritance, as thou didst speak by the hand of Moses, thy slave, when thou didst bring our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord GOD. And it was so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication unto the LORD he arose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his hands extended toward heaven. And he stood and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying, Blessed be the LORD that has given rest unto his people Israel according to all that he had said; not one word has failed of all his good word, which he spoke by the hand of Moses, his slave. The 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 unto him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his rights, which he commanded our fathers. And let these my words, with which I have made supplication before the LORD, be near unto the LORD our God day and night that he maintain the judgment of his slave and the cause of his people Israel at all times, as the matter shall require; that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God, and that there is no other. Let your heart, therefore, be perfect with the LORD our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.

And it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father who art in the heavens, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so also in the earth. Give us day by day our daily bread.read more.
And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend and shall go unto him at midnight and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needs. And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask him?

And he spoke a parable unto them to this end, that it behooves us always to pray and not faint, saying, There was in a city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man; and there was a widow in that city, and she came unto him, saying, Defend me from my adversary.read more.
And he would not for a while, but afterward he said within himself, Though I do not fear God, nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me, I will do her justice, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge says. And shall not God avenge his own elect who cry day and night unto him though he bears long regarding them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man comes, shall he find faith on the earth?

Jesus spoke these words and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour is come; clarify thy Son, that thy Son may also clarify thee, as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.read more.
I have clarified thee on the earth; I have finished the work which thou didst give me to do. And now, O Father, clarify thou me with thine own self with that clarity which I had with thee before the world was. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou didst give me out of the world; thine they were, and thou didst give them me; and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them; I do not pray for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all my things are thine, and thine are mine; and I have been clarified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, those whom thou hast given me, keep them in thy name, that they may be one, as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name; those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled. And now I come to thee; and these things I speak in the world that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not pray that thou should take them out of the world, but that thou should keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in thy truth; thy word is the truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified in the truth. Neither do I pray for these alone, but also for those who shall believe in me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the clarity which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfect in one and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my clarity, which thou hast given me, for thou hast loved me from before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world has not known thee; but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have manifested unto them thy name and will manifest it still, that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.

And if thou must deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found grace 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 desiring to die, he said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am not better than my fathers.

Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me, for I would rather die than live.

And he said unto her, What dost thou desire? She said unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit the one on thy right hand and the other on the left in thy kingdom.