'Prayer' in the Bible

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 it will be that whoever makes his prayer to the name of the Lord will be kept safe: for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem some will be kept safe, as the Lord has said, and will be among the small band marked out by the Lord.

And the ship's captain came to him and said to him, What are you doing sleeping? Up! say a prayer to your God, if by chance God will give a thought to us, so that we may not come to destruction.

So, crying to the Lord, they said, Give ear to our prayer, O Lord, give ear, and do not let destruction overtake us because of this man's life; do not put on us the sin of taking life without cause: for you, O Lord, have done what seemed good to you.

Then Jonah made prayer to the Lord his God from the inside of the fish, and said,

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 soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.

And he made prayer to the Lord and said, O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still in my country? This is why I took care to go in flight to Tarshish: for I was certain that you were a loving God, full of pity, slow to be angry and great in mercy, and ready to be turned from your purpose of evil.

So now, O Lord, give ear to my prayer and take my life from me; for death is better for me than life.

A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth.

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 those who are turned back from going after the Lord, and those who have not made prayer to the Lord or got directions from him.

For then I will give the people a clean language, so that they may all make prayer to the Lord and be his servants with one mind.

“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.

And I will make the third part go through the fire, cleaning them as silver is made clean, and testing them as gold is tested: and they will make their prayer to me and I will give them an answer: I will say, It is my people; and they will say, The Lord is my God.

But I say to you, Have love for those who are against you, and make prayer for those who are cruel to you;

But when you make your prayer, go into your private room, and, shutting the door, say a prayer to your Father in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will give you your reward.

And in your prayer do not make use of the same words again and again, as the Gentiles do: for they have the idea that God will give attention to them because of the number of their words.

Let this then be your prayer: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.

Make prayer, then, to the Lord of the grain-fields, that he may send out workers to get in his grain.

And after he had sent the people away, he went up into the mountain by himself for prayer: and when evening was come, he was there by himself.

Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall 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.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

And say a prayer that your flight may not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath.

Then comes Jesus with them to a place named Gethsemane, and says to his disciples, Be seated here, while I go over there for prayer.

And he went forward a little, and falling down on his face in prayer, he said, O my Father, if it is possible, let this cup go from me; but let not my pleasure, but yours be done.

Keep watch with prayer, so that you may not be put to the test: the spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is feeble.

Again, a second time he went away, and said in prayer, O my Father, if this may not go from me without my taking it, let your pleasure be done.

And he went away from them again, and a third time said the same prayer.

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.

And made strong prayers to him, saying, My little daughter is near to death: it is my prayer that you will come and put your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and have life.

And after he had sent them away, he went up into a mountain for prayer.

And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.

And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.

That is why I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.

And whenever you make a prayer, let there be forgiveness in your hearts, if you have anything against anyone; so that you may have forgiveness for your sins from your Father who is in heaven.

And say a prayer that it may not be in the winter.

Take care, keep watch with prayer: for you are not certain when the time will be.

And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and he said to his disciples, Be seated here while I say a prayer.

Keep watch with prayer, so that you may not be put to the test; the spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is feeble.

He went away again and prayed the same prayer as before.

And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering.

But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.

and then as a widow for 84 years. She never left the Temple, but continued to worship there night and day with times of fasting and prayer.

Now it came about that when all the people had been given baptism, Jesus, having had baptism with them, was in prayer, when, the heaven being open,

And it came about that while he was in one of the towns, there was a leper there: and when he saw Jesus he went down on his face in prayer to him, saying, Lord, if it is your pleasure, you have power to make me clean.

But he went away by himself to a waste place for prayer.

And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.

And it came about that when he was in prayer, by himself, and the disciples were with him, he put a question to them, saying, Who do the people say I am?

And about eight days after he had said these things, he took Peter and John and James with him and went up into the mountain for prayer.

And while he was in prayer, his face was changed and his clothing became white and shining.

And he said to them, There is much grain ready to be cut, but not enough workers: so make prayer to the Lord of the grain-fields that he will send workers to get in the grain.

And it came about that he was in prayer in a certain place, and when he came to an end, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, will you give us teaching about prayer, as John did to his disciples?

And he made a story for them, the point of which was that men were to go on making prayer and not get tired;

Two men went up to the Temple for prayer; one a Pharisee, and the other a tax-farmer.

Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves.

But keep watch at all times with prayer, that you may be strong enough to come through all these things and take your place before the Son of man.

But I have made prayer for you, that your faith may not go from you: and when you are turned again, make your brothers strong.

And when he came to the place, he said to them, Make a prayer that you may not be put to the test.

And he went a little distance away from them and, falling on his knees in prayer, he said,

And being in great trouble of soul, the force of his prayer became stronger, and great drops, like blood, came from him, falling to the earth.

And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow,

And he said, Why are you sleeping? Get up, and give yourselves to prayer, so that you may not be put to the test.

In answer Jesus said, If you had knowledge of what God gives freely and who it is who says to you, Give me water, you would make your prayer to him, and he would give you living water.

And I will make prayer to the Father and he will give you another Helper to be with you for ever,

In that day you will make requests in my name: and I do not say that I will make prayer to the Father for you,

My prayer is for them: my prayer is not for the world, but for those whom you have given to me, because they are yours

My prayer is not that you will take them out of the world, but that you will keep them from the Evil One.

My prayer is not for them only, but for all who will have faith in me through their word;

After offering this prayer Jesus went out with His disciples to a place on the further side of the Ravine of the Cedars, where there was a garden which He entered--Himself and His disciples.

These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.

And whoever makes his prayer to the Lord will have salvation.

The believers continued to devote themselves to what the apostles were teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to times of prayer.

Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.

And hearing it, they all, with one mind, made prayer to God and said, O Lord, maker of heaven and earth and the sea and all things in them:

And when their prayer was ended, the place where they were was violently moved, and they all became full of the Holy Spirit, preaching the word of God without fear.

But we will give ourselves continually 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].

And Stephen, while he was being stoned, made prayer to God, saying, Lord Jesus, take my spirit.

Who, when they came there, made prayer for them, that the Holy Spirit might be given to them:

Let your heart be changed, and make prayer to God that you may have forgiveness for your evil thoughts.

And Simon, answering, said, Make prayer for me to the Lord, so that these things which you have said may not come on me.

And the Lord said to him, Get up, and go to the street which is named Straight, and make search at the house of Judas for one named Saul of Tarsus: for he is at prayer;

But Peter made them all go outside, and went down on his knees in prayer; and turning to the body, he said, Tabitha, get up. And, opening her eyes, she saw Peter and got up.

A serious-minded man, fearing God with all his family; he gave much money to the poor, and made prayer to God at all times.

Now the day after, when they were on their journey and were near the town, Peter went up to the top of the house for prayer, about the sixth hour:

They said, “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man well spoken of by all the Jewish people, was divinely instructed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and hear what you have to say.”

And Cornelius said, Four days ago, until this hour, I was keeping the ninth hour of prayer in my house; and behold, a man stood before me in bright apparel,

And said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God.

I was in the town of Joppa, at prayer: and falling into a deep sleep, I saw in a vision a vessel like a great cloth let down from heaven, and it came down to me:

Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.

And when he became clear about this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John named Mark, where a number of them had come together for prayer.

Then, after prayer and going without food they put their hands on them, and sent them away.

Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church, and with prayer and fasting they entrusted them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.

And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:

And having said these words, he went down on his knees in prayer with them all.