'Prayer' in the Bible
Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was childless. The Lord heard his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived.
since You, Lord of Hosts, God of Israel, have revealed this to Your servant when You said, “I will build a house for you.” Therefore, Your servant has found the courage to pray this prayer to You.
and buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan at Zela in the land of Benjamin in the tomb of Saul’s father Kish. They did everything the king commanded. After this, God answered prayer for the land.
He built an altar to the Lord there and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the Lord answered prayer on behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel ended.
Listen to Your servant’s prayer and his petition,Lord my God,so that You may hear the cry and the prayerthat Your servant prays before You today,
so that Your eyes may watch over this temple night and day,toward the place where You said:My name will be there,and so that You may hear the prayerthat Your servant prays toward this place.
whatever prayer or petitionanyone from Your people Israel might have—each man knowing his own afflictionsand spreading out his hands toward this temple—
may You hear their prayer and petition in heavenand uphold their cause.
may You hear in heaven, Your dwelling place,their prayer and petition and uphold their cause.
When Solomon finished praying this entire prayer and petition to the Lord, he got up from kneeling before the altar of the Lord, with his hands spread out toward heaven,
The Lord said to him:I have heard your prayer and petition you have made before Me. I have consecrated this temple you have built, to put My name there forever; My eyes and My heart will be there at all times.
Perhaps Yahweh your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke him for the words that Yahweh your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for the surviving remnant.’”
Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “The Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘I have heard your prayer to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria.’
“Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of My people, ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the Lord’s temple.
Listen to Your servant’s prayer and his petition,Lord my God,so that You may hear the cry and the prayerthat Your servant prays before You,
so that Your eyes watch over this templeday and night,toward the place where You saidYou would put Your name;and so that You may hear the prayerYour servant prays toward this place.
whatever prayer or petitionanyone from your people Israel might have—each man knowing his own affliction and suffering,and spreading out his hands toward this temple—
may You hear their prayer and petition in heavenand uphold their cause.
may You hear their prayer and petitions in heaven,Your dwelling place,and uphold their cause.May You forgive Your peoplewho sinned against You.
Now, my God,please let Your eyes be openand Your ears attentiveto the prayer of this place.
Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him:I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a temple of sacrifice.
My eyes will now be open and My ears attentive to prayer from this place.
Then the priests and the Levites stood to bless the people, and God heard their voice, and their prayer came into His holy dwelling place in heaven.
The rest of the events of Manasseh’s reign, along with his prayer to his God and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel, are written in the Records of Israel’s Kings.
His prayer and how God granted his request, and all his sin and unfaithfulness and the sites where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and carved images before he humbled himself, they are written in the Records of Hozai.
let Your eyes be open and Your ears be attentive to hear Your servant’s prayer that I now pray to You day and night for Your servants, the Israelites. I confess the sins we have committed against You. Both I and my father’s house have sinned.
Please, Lord, let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and to that of Your servants who delight to revere Your name. Give Your servant success today, and have compassion on him in the presence of this man.At the time, I was the king’s cupbearer.
Mattaniah son of Mica, son of Zabdi, son of Asaph, the leader who began the thanksgiving in prayer; Bakbukiah, second among his relatives; and Abda son of Shammua, son of Galal, son of Jeduthun.
As for you, if you redirect your heartand lift up your hands to Him in prayer—
although my hands are free from violenceand my prayer is pure.
Now take seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. Then My servant Job will pray for you. I will surely accept his prayer and not deal with you as your folly deserves. For you have not spoken the truth about Me, as My servant Job has.”
Then Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the Lord had told them, and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.
For the choir director: with stringed instruments. A Davidic psalm.Answer me when I call,God, who vindicates me.You freed me from affliction;be gracious to me and hear my prayer.
The Lord has heard my plea for help;the Lord accepts my prayer.
A Davidic prayer.Lord, hear a just cause;pay attention to my cry;listen to my prayer—from lips free of deceit.
Yet when they were sick,my clothing was sackcloth;I humbled myself with fasting,and my prayer was genuine.
“Hear my prayer, Lord,and listen to my cry for help;do not be silent at my tears.For I am a foreigner residing with You,a temporary resident like all my fathers.
The Lord will send His faithful love by day;His song will be with me in the night—a prayer to the God of my life.
For the choir director: with stringed instruments. A Davidic Maskil.God, listen to my prayerand do not ignore my plea for help.
For the choir director: on stringed instruments. Davidic.God, hear my cry;pay attention to my prayer.
However, God has listened;He has paid attention to the sound of my prayer.
May God be praised!He has not turned away my prayeror turned His faithful love from me.
But as for me, Lord,my prayer to You is for a time of favor.In Your abundant, faithful love, God,answer me with Your sure salvation.
May he live long!May gold from Sheba be given to him.May prayer be offered for him continually,and may he be blessed all day long.
Lord God of Hosts, hear my prayer;listen, God of Jacob.Selah
But I call to You for help, Lord;in the morning my prayer meets You.
A prayer of an afflicted person who is weak and pours out his lament before the Lord.Lord, hear my prayer;let my cry for help come before You.
He will pay attention to the prayer of the destituteand will not despise their prayer.
When he is judged, let him be found guilty,and let his prayer be counted as sin.
May my prayer be set before You as incense,the raising of my hands as the evening offering.
Let the righteous one strike me—it is an act of faithful love;let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head;let me not refuse it.Even now my prayer is againstthe evil acts of the wicked.
A Davidic psalm.Lord, hear my prayer.In Your faithfulness listen to my plea,and in Your righteousness answer me.
The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable to the Lord,but the prayer of the upright is His delight.
The Lord is far from the wicked,but He hears the prayer of the righteous.
Anyone who turns his ear away from hearing the law—even his prayer is detestable.
When you lift up your hands in prayer,I will refuse to look at you;even if you offer countless prayers,I will not listen.Your hands are covered with blood.
Perhaps Yahweh your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke him for the words that Yahweh your God has heard. Therefore offer a prayer for the surviving remnant.’”
“Go and tell Hezekiah that this is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I am going to add 15 years to your life.
I will bring them to My holy mountainand let them rejoice in My house of prayer.Their burnt offerings and sacrificeswill be acceptable on My altar,for My house will be called a house of prayerfor all nations.”
“As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not offer a cry or a prayer on their behalf, and do not beg Me, for I will not listen to you.
“As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not raise up a cry or a prayer on their behalf, for I will not be listening when they call out to Me at the time of their disaster.
Even when I cry out and plead for help,He rejects my prayer.
You have covered Yourself with a cloudso that no prayer can pass through.
So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and petitions, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
Therefore, our God, hear the prayer and the petitions of Your servant. Show Your favor to Your desolate sanctuary for the Lord’s sake.
As my life was fading away,I remembered Yahweh.My prayer came to You,to Your holy temple.
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. According to Shigionoth.
“Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the house of David and the residents of Jerusalem, and they will look at Me whom they pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly for Him as one weeps for a firstborn.