'Prayer' in the Bible

Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.

Then Rachel said, "God has vindicated me. He has responded to my prayer and given me a son." That is why she named him Dan.

God answered Manoah's prayer. God's angelic messenger visited the woman again while she was sitting in the field. But her husband Manoah was not with her.

for you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have told your servant, 'I will build you a dynastic house.' That is why your servant has had the courage to pray this prayer to you.

But respond favorably to your servant's prayer and his request for help, O Lord my God. Answer the desperate prayer your servant is presenting to you today.

Night and day may you watch over this temple, the place where you promised you would live. May you answer your servant's prayer for this place.

The Lord said to him, "I have answered your prayer and your request for help that you made to me. I have consecrated this temple you built by making it my permanent home; I will be constantly present there.

The Lord answered Elijah's prayer; the boy's breath returned to him and he lived.

Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: "This is what the Lord God of Israel says: 'I have heard your prayer concerning King Sennacherib 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. The day after tomorrow you will go up to the Lord's temple.

Jabez called out to the God of Israel, "If only you would greatly bless me and expand my territory! May your hand be with me! Keep me from harm so I might not endure pain!" God answered his prayer.

Say this prayer: "Deliver us, O God who delivers us! Gather us! Rescue us from the nations! Then we will give thanks to your holy name, and boast about your praiseworthy deeds."

But respond favorably to your servant's prayer and his request for help, O Lord my God. Answer the desperate prayer your servant is presenting to you.

Night and day may you watch over this temple, the place where you promised you would live. May you answer your servant's prayer for this place.

the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him: "I have answered your prayer and chosen this place to be my temple where sacrifices are to be made.

The rest of the events of Manasseh's reign, including his prayer to his God and the words the prophets spoke to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Israel.

The Annals of the Prophets include his prayer, give an account of how the Lord responded to it, record all his sins and unfaithful acts, and identify the sites where he built high places and erected Asherah poles and idols before he humbled himself.

may your ear be attentive and your eyes be open to hear the prayer of your servant that I am praying to you today throughout both day and night on behalf of your servants the Israelites. I am confessing the sins of the Israelites that we have committed against you -- both I myself and my family have sinned.

Please, O Lord, listen attentively to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who take pleasure in showing respect to your name. Grant your servant success today and show compassion to me in the presence of this man." Now I was cupbearer for the king.

Mattaniah son of Mica, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, the praise leader who led in thanksgiving and prayer; Bakbukiah, second among his colleagues; and Abda son of Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun.

although there is no violence in my hands and my prayer is pure.

For the music director, to be accompanied by stringed instruments; a psalm of David. When I call out, answer me, O God who vindicates me! Though I am hemmed in, you will lead me into a wide, open place. Have mercy on me and respond to my prayer!

The Lord has heard my appeal for mercy; the Lord has accepted my prayer.

Lord, you have heard the request of the oppressed; you make them feel secure because you listen to their prayer.

A prayer of David. Protect me, O God, for I have taken shelter in you.

A prayer of David. Lord, consider my just cause! Pay attention to my cry for help! Listen to the prayer I sincerely offer!

For the music director; according to the tune "Morning Doe;" a psalm of David. My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? I groan in prayer, but help seems far away.

By David. O Lord, I come before you in prayer.

Hear my prayer, O Lord! Listen to my cry for help! Do not ignore my sobbing! For I am dependent on you, like one residing outside his native land; I am at your mercy, just as all my ancestors were.

By day the Lord decrees his loyal love, and by night he gives me a song, a prayer to the living God.

If we had rejected our God, and spread out our hands in prayer to another god,

O God, listen to my prayer! Pay attention to what I say!

For the music director, to be accompanied by stringed instruments; a well-written song by David. Listen, O God, to my prayer! Do not ignore my appeal for mercy!

For the music director; according to the yonath-elem-rechovim style; a prayer of David, written when the Philistines captured him in Gath. Have mercy on me, O God, for men are attacking me! All day long hostile enemies are tormenting me.

For the music director; according to the al-tashcheth style; a prayer of David, written when he fled from Saul into the cave. Have mercy on me, O God! Have mercy on me! For in you I have taken shelter. In the shadow of your wings I take shelter until trouble passes.

For the music director; according to the al-tashcheth style; a prayer of David. Do you rulers really pronounce just decisions? Do you judge people fairly?

For the music director; according to the al-tashcheth style; a prayer of David, written when Saul sent men to surround his house and murder him. Deliver me from my enemies, my God! Protect me from those who attack me!

For the music director; according to the shushan-eduth style; a prayer of David written to instruct others. It was written when he fought against Aram Naharaim and Aram-Zobah. That was when Joab turned back and struck down 12,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. O God, you have rejected us. You suddenly turned on us in your anger. Please restore us!

For the music director; to be played on a stringed instrument; written by David. O God, hear my cry for help! Pay attention to my prayer!

However, God heard; he listened to my prayer.

God deserves praise, for he did not reject my prayer or abandon his love for me!

O Lord, may you hear my prayer and be favorably disposed to me! O God, because of your great loyal love, answer me with your faithful deliverance!

In my time of trouble I sought the Lord. I kept my hand raised in prayer throughout the night. I refused to be comforted.

O Lord, sovereign God, hear my prayer! Listen, O God of Jacob! (Selah)

A prayer of David. Listen O Lord! Answer me! For I am oppressed and needy.

O Lord, hear my prayer! Pay attention to my plea for mercy!

Listen to my prayer! Pay attention to my cry for help!

My eyes grow weak because of oppression. I call out to you, O Lord, all day long; I spread out my hands in prayer to you.

As for me, I cry out to you, O Lord; in the morning my prayer confronts you.

A prayer of Moses, the man of God. O Lord, you have been our protector through all generations!

The prayer of an oppressed man, as he grows faint and pours out his lament before the Lord. O Lord, hear my prayer! Pay attention to my cry for help!

when he responds to the prayer of the destitute, and does not reject their request.

When he is judged, he will be found guilty! Then his prayer will be regarded as sinful.

May you accept my prayer like incense, my uplifted hands like the evening offering!

May the godly strike me in love and correct me! May my head not refuse choice oil! Indeed, my prayer is a witness against their evil deeds.

A well-written song by David, when he was in the cave; a prayer. To the Lord I cry out; to the Lord I plead for mercy.

A psalm of David. O Lord, hear my prayer! Pay attention to my plea for help! Because of your faithfulness and justice, answer me!

I spread my hands out to you in prayer; my soul thirsts for you in a parched land.

The Lord abhors the sacrifices of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases him.

The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.

The one who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.

When you spread out your hands in prayer, I look the other way; when you offer your many prayers, I do not listen, because your hands are covered with blood.

"Go and tell Hezekiah: 'This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: "I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I will add fifteen years to your life,

This is the prayer of King Hezekiah of Judah when he was sick and then recovered from his illness:

When you call out to me and come to me in prayer, I will hear your prayers.

When you seek me in prayer and worship, you will find me available to you. If you seek me with all your heart and soul,

Call on me in prayer and I will answer you. I will show you great and mysterious things which you still do not know about.'

Also, when I cry out desperately for help, he has shut out my prayer.

You shrouded yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through.

Then they said to the king, "Daniel, who is one of the captives from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or to the edict that you issued. Three times daily he offers his prayer."

So I turned my attention to the Lord God to implore him by prayer and requests, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

"So now, our God, accept the prayer and requests of your servant, and show favor to your devastated sanctuary for your own sake.

Return to the Lord and repent! Say to him: "Completely forgive our iniquity; accept our penitential prayer, that we may offer the praise of our lips as sacrificial bulls.

and said, "I called out to the Lord from my distress, and he answered me; from the belly of Sheol I cried out for help, and you heard my prayer.

When my life was ebbing away, I called out to the Lord, and my prayer came to your holy temple.

This is a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet:

The sovereign Lord is my source of strength. He gives me the agility of a deer; he enables me to negotiate the rugged terrain. (This prayer is for the song leader. It is to be accompanied by stringed instruments.)

And he said to them, "It is written, 'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are turning it into a den of robbers!"

And whatever you ask in prayer, if you believe, you will receive."

Then Jesus got up early in the morning when it was still very dark, departed, and went out to a deserted place, and there he spent time in prayer.

He told them, "This kind can come out only by prayer."

Then he began to teach them and said, "Is it not written: 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have turned it into a den of robbers!"

But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son; you will name him John.

She had lived as a widow since then for eighty-four years. She never left the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.

Now it was during this time that Jesus went out to the mountain to pray, and he spent all night in prayer to God.

saying to them, "It is written, 'My house will be a house of prayer,' but you have turned it into a den of robbers!"

When he got up from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping, exhausted from grief.

All these continued together in prayer with one mind, together with the women, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

They were devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time for prayer, at three o'clock in the afternoon.

But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word."

and said, 'Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your acts of charity have been remembered before God.

When they had appointed elders for them in the various churches, with prayer and fasting they entrusted them to the protection of the Lord in whom they had believed.

On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate to the side of the river, where we thought there would be a place of prayer, and we sat down and began to speak to the women who had assembled there.

Now as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit that enabled her to foretell the future by supernatural means. She brought her owners a great profit by fortune-telling.

Brothers and sisters, my heart's desire and prayer to God on behalf of my fellow Israelites is for their salvation.

Rejoice in hope, endure in suffering, persist in prayer.

Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, through our Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, to join fervently with me in prayer to God on my behalf.

Do not deprive each other, except by mutual agreement for a specified time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then resume your relationship, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

as you also join in helping us by prayer, so that many people may give thanks to God on our behalf for the gracious gift given to us through the help of many.