What Does the Bible Say About Prayer?

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The Bible has a great deal to say about prayer. This study gathers passages from across Scripture and sets them out for reading and reflection.

What Scripture Says

Prayer runs through the whole of Scripture as the speech of the human heart before God, and the verses gathered here show both its variety and its seriousness. In 2 Samuel 7:27, David traces his prayer to God’s own revelation: because the LORD of hosts had revealed that He would build David an house, “therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee.” Prayer, then, is not merely a human impulse; it is a response to what God has first made known. Solomon, at the dedication of the temple, pleads that God would “have respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication” and “hearken unto the cry and to the prayer” (1 Kings 8:28; 2 Chronicles 6:19). The same posture appears in Nehemiah 1:6, where the servant of God asks that the LORD’s ear be attentive and His eyes open to a prayer offered “day and night” for the children of Israel, joined with confession of sin.

The breadth of Scripture’s teaching on prayer includes warning as well as encouragement. Proverbs 15:8 sets the sacrifice of the wicked against the prayer of the upright: the one is an abomination, the other is God’s delight. Job 15:4 describes the wicked as those who “castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.” Jeremiah 7:16 records a time when God forbids intercession: “pray not thou for this people… for I will not hear thee.” Lamentations 3:8 gives voice to the anguish of unanswered prayer—”when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer”—while Isaiah 26:16 acknowledges that in trouble “they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.” Prayer is not a mechanical formula that guarantees a hearing; Scripture ties it to the character of the one who prays and to God’s own righteous will.

Yet the same Scripture holds out hope for the contrite. Jonah, when his soul fainted within him, remembered the LORD, and his prayer “came in unto thee, into thine holy temple” (Jonah 2:7). David cries, “Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness… have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer” (Psalms 4:1). Daniel “set his face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes” (Daniel 9:3), and Habakkuk’s book preserves “a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet” (Habakkuk 3:1). Even Hezekiah, facing the reproach of Rabshakeh, asks that prayer be lifted up “for the remnant that are left” (2 Kings 19:4). From king to prophet to cupbearer, prayer is the refuge of those who have nowhere else to turn.

Living It Out

Prayer is not reserved for quiet moments when everything is already calm; the examples above show people praying in distress, in confession, in the face of enemies, and after God has spoken. An ordinary believer can begin where they are—with honest words, with confession of sin as Nehemiah did, with the simple plea of David, “hear my prayer.” Daniel’s posture of fasting and ashes reminds us that prayer may sometimes cost us something, and that earnestness is not the same as eloquence. At the same time, Proverbs and Job warn us that prayer is not a tool to be wielded while the heart remains unchanged; the prayer of the upright is God’s delight, and restraining prayer is a mark of turning away from Him.

There will also be times when prayer seems shut out, as in Lamentations, or when God says “I will not hear.” Those passages are in Scripture for a reason: they teach us that God is not obligated to answer on our terms, and that persistent sin can close the door. Yet Jonah’s prayer from the belly of the fish still reached the holy temple. The practical path is to keep praying—day and night, as Nehemiah did—while walking uprightly, confessing sin, and trusting that the God who revealed Himself to David is still the God who hears.

Reflection

  1. When you pray, are you more like Nehemiah—confessing sin and pleading day and night—or have you, like Job’s description of the wicked, quietly “restrained prayer before God”?
  2. If God’s answer to your prayer were “no,” or if He seemed to shut out your prayer as in Lamentations, would you still remember the LORD as Jonah did, or would you stop praying altogether?

Verses to Consider

  • 2 Samuel 7:27 — For thou, O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee an house: therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee.
  • 1 Kings 8:28 — Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee to day:
  • 2 Kings 19:4 — It may be the LORD thy God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left.
  • 2 Chronicles 6:19 — Have respect therefore to the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee:
  • Nehemiah 1:6 — Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father’s hou…
  • Job 15:4 — Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.
  • Psalms 4:1 — Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.
  • Proverbs 15:8 — The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
  • Isaiah 26:16 — LORD, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.
  • Jeremiah 7:16 — Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.
  • Lamentations 3:8 — Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.
  • Daniel 9:3 — And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:
  • Jonah 2:7 — When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.
  • Habakkuk 3:1 — A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth.

Where These Come From

These verses are drawn from different parts of the Bible on purpose. A subject is rarely settled by a single line; the whole counsel of Scripture gives the shape of it.

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