'Prayer' in the Bible

Isaac went out to bow down [in prayer] in the field in the [early] evening; he raised his eyes and looked, and camels were coming.

Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was unable to conceive children; and the Lord granted his prayer and Rebekah his wife conceived [twins].

But the children struggled together within her [kicking and shoving one another]; and she said, “If it is so [that the Lord has heard our prayer], why then am I this way?” So she went to inquire of the Lord [praying for an answer].

So Rachel said, “With mighty wrestlings [in prayer to God] I have struggled with my sister and have prevailed.” So she named him Naphtali (my wrestlings).

God listened and answered [the prayer of] Leah, and she conceived and gave birth to a fifth son for Jacob.

And so the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his attendant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.

he burned fragrant incense [as a symbol of prayer] on it, just as the Lord commanded him.

For You, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, have revealed this to Your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house (royal dynasty).’ For that reason Your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to You.

Yet graciously consider the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O Lord my God, to listen to the [loud] cry and to the prayer which Your servant prays before You today;

that Your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, toward the place of which You have said, ‘My Name (Presence) shall be there,’ that You may listen to the prayer which Your servant shall pray toward this place.

Listen to the prayer of Your servant and of Your people Israel which they pray toward this place. Hear in heaven, Your dwelling place; hear and forgive.

whatever prayer or pleading is made by any individual, or by Your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart, and spreading his hands out toward this house;

then hear in heaven their prayer and their pleading, and maintain their right and defend their cause.

then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven Your dwelling place, and maintain their right and defend their cause,

When Solomon finished offering this entire prayer and supplication to the Lord, he arose from before the Lord’s altar, where he had knelt down with his hands stretched toward heaven.

The Lord told him, “I have heard your prayer and supplication which you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built by putting My Name and My Presence there forever. My eyes and My heart shall be there perpetually.

It may be that the Lord your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to taunt and defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. So offer a prayer for the remnant [of His people] that is left [in Judah].’”

Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘I have heard your prayer to Me regarding Sennacherib king of Assyria.’

“Go back and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father (ancestor): “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears. Behold, I am healing you; on the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord.

Yet have regard for the prayer of Your servant and for his supplication, O Lord my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant prays before You,

that Your eyes may be open toward this house day and night, toward the place in which You have said that You would put Your Name (Presence), to listen to the prayer which Your servant shall pray toward this place.

then whatever prayer or request is made by any man or all of Your people Israel, each knowing his own suffering and his own pain, and stretching out his hands toward this house,

then hear from heaven their prayer and their request, and maintain their cause and do justice.

then hear from heaven, from Your dwelling place, their prayer and requests, and maintain their cause and do justice and forgive Your people who have sinned against You.

“Now, O my God, I pray, let Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.

Then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice.

Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer offered in this place.

Then the priests and Levites stood and blessed the people; and their voice was heard and their prayer came up to His holy dwelling place, to heaven.

But Hezekiah did nothing [for the Lord] in return for the benefit bestowed on him, because his heart had become proud; therefore God’s wrath came on him and on Judah and Jerusalem.

Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, behold, they are among the records of the kings of Israel.

His prayer also and how God heard him, and all his sin, his unfaithfulness, and the sites on which he built high places and set up the Asherim and the carved images, before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the records of the Hozai.

please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You, day and night, on behalf of Your servants, the sons (descendants) of Israel (Jacob), confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have committed against You; I and my father’s house have sinned.

Please, O Lord, let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to [reverently] fear Your Name [Your essence, Your nature, Your attributes, with awe]; and make Your servant successful this day and grant him compassion in the sight of this man [the king].”For I was cupbearer to the king [of Persia].

But we prayed to our God, and because of them we set up a guard against them day and night.

Mattaniah the son of Mica, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, who was the leader to begin the thanksgiving in prayer, and Bakbukiah, second among his brothers; and Abda the son of Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun.

Although there is no violence or wrongdoing in my hands,And my prayer is pure.

“You will pray to Him, and He will hear you,And you will pay your vows.

Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves, and My servant Job will pray for you. For I will accept him [and his prayer] so that I may not deal with you according to your folly, because you have not spoken of Me the thing that is right, as My servant Job has.”

So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the Lord told them; and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.

Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!You have freed me when I was hemmed in and relieved me when I was in distress;Be gracious to me and hear [and respond to] my prayer.

In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice;In the morning I will prepare [a prayer and a sacrifice] for You and watch and wait [for You to speak to my heart].

The Lord has heard my supplication [my plea for grace];The Lord receives my prayer.

Hear the just (righteous) cause, O Lord; listen to my loud [piercing] cry;Listen to my prayer, that comes from guileless lips.

“Hear my prayer, O Lord, and listen to my cry;Do not be silent at my tears;For I am Your temporary guest,A sojourner like all my fathers.

Yet the Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime,And in the night His song will be with me,A prayer to the God of my life.

Hear my prayer, O God;Listen to the words of my mouth.

Listen to my prayer, O God,And do not hide Yourself from my plea.

Hear my cry, O God;Listen to my prayer.

O You who hear prayer,To You all mankind comes.

But certainly God has heard [me];He has given heed to the voice of my prayer.

Blessed be God,Who has not turned away my prayerNor His lovingkindness from me.

But as for me, my prayer is to You, O Lord, at an acceptable and opportune time;O God, in the greatness of Your favor and in the abundance of Your lovingkindness,Answer me with truth [that is, the faithfulness of Your salvation].

So may he live, and may the gold of Sheba be given to him;And let them pray for him continually;Let them bless and praise him all day long.

In the day of my trouble I [desperately] sought the Lord;In the night my hand was stretched out [in prayer] without weariness;My soul refused to be comforted.

I remember God; then I am disquieted and I groan;I sigh [in prayer], and my spirit grows faint. Selah.

O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;Listen, O God of Jacob! Selah.

Hear, O Lord, my prayer;And listen attentively to the voice of my supplications (specific requests)!

Let my prayer come before You and enter into Your presence;Incline Your ear to my cry!

But I have cried out to You, O Lord, for help;And in the morning my prayer will come to You.

Hear my prayer, O Lord,And let my cry for help come to You!

He has regarded the prayer of the destitute,And has not despised their prayer.

In return for my love, they attack me,But I am in prayer.

When he enters into dispute, let wickedness come about.Let his prayer [for help] result [only] in sin.

I rise before dawn and cry [in prayer] for help;I wait for Your word.

Let my prayer be counted as incense before You;The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.

Let the righteous [thoughtfully] strike (correct) me—it is a kindness [done to encourage my spiritual maturity].It is [the choicest anointing] oil on the head;Let my head not refuse [to accept and acknowledge and learn from] it;For still my prayer is against their wicked deeds.

Hear my prayer, O Lord,Listen to my supplications!Answer me in Your faithfulness, and in Your righteousness.

The sacrifice of the wicked is hateful and exceedingly offensive to the Lord,But the prayer of the upright is His delight!

The Lord is far from the wicked [and distances Himself from them],But He hears the prayer of the [consistently] righteous [that is, those with spiritual integrity and moral courage].

He who turns his ear away from listening to the law [of God and man],Even his prayer is repulsive [to God].

“So when you spread out your hands [in prayer, pleading for My help],I will hide My eyes from you;Yes, even though you offer many prayers,I will not be listening.Your hands are full of blood!

It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh [the commander], whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to taunt and defy the living God, and will avenge the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for the remnant [of His people] that is left.’”

“Go and say to Hezekiah, ‘For the Lord, the God of David your father says this, “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; listen carefully, I will add fifteen years to your life.

All these I will bring to My holy mountainAnd make them joyful in My house of prayer.Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar;For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.”

“Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, for I shall not listen when they cry to Me in the time of their disaster.

Even when I cry out and shout for help,He shuts out my prayer.

Let us lift up our hearts and our hands [in prayer]Toward God in heaven;

You have covered Yourself with a cloudSo that no prayer can pass through.

You have heard my voice,“Do not hide Your ear from my prayer for relief,From my cry for help.”

Standing before these [images] were seventy elders of the house of Israel, and among them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan [the scribe], each man with his censer in his hand and a thick and fragrant cloud of incense was rising [as they prayed to these gods].

So I directed my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.

Now therefore, our God, listen to (heed) the prayer of Your servant (Daniel) and his supplications, and for Your own sake let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary.

while I was still speaking in prayer and extremely exhausted, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me about the time of the evening sacrifice.

“When my soul was fainting within me,I remembered the Lord,And my prayer came to You,Into Your holy temple.

A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, set to wild and enthusiastic music.

[But this kind of demon does not go out except by prayer and fasting.]”

Jesus said to them, “It is written [in Scripture], ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a robbers’ den.”

And whatever you ask for in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

They do all their deeds to be seen by men; for they make their phylacteries (tefillin) wide [to make them more conspicuous] and make their tassels long.

He replied to them, “This kind [of unclean spirit] cannot come out by anything but prayer [to the Father].”

He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a robbers’ den.”

For this reason I am telling you, whatever things you ask for in prayer [in accordance with God’s will], believe [with confident trust] that you have received them, and they will be given to you.

and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She did not leave the [area of the] temple, but was serving and worshiping night and day with fastings and prayers.

Now at this time Jesus went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.

saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer’; but you have made it a robbers’ den.”

When He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow,

All these with one mind and one purpose were continually devoting themselves to prayer, [waiting together] along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour (3:00 p.m.),

But we will [continue to] devote ourselves [steadfastly] to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

They brought these men before the apostles; and after praying, they laid their hands on them [to dedicate and commission them for this service].