Prayer

Across the UPDV, prayer is treated less as a technique than as a sustained act of speech directed toward Yahweh — commanded, illustrated, sometimes refused, sometimes answered above what was asked. The cross-referenced material gathers under a few large movements: the standing imperative to call on God, the patterned posture and rhythm of doing it, the long roster of named examples, the conditions on which prayer is heard, and the special case of intercession — supremely that of Christ, but also of his servants who stand in the gap. Prayer in this canon is typically vocal, often physical, and frequently bound up with confession, fasting, and waiting on a delayed reply.

The Call to Pray

The call is addressed to Israel and to the church alike. "Seek⁺ Yahweh and his strength; Seek his face evermore" (1Ch 16:11). "Take with you⁺ words, and return to Yahweh: say to him, Take away all iniquity, and accept what is good" (Ho 14:2). The apostles repeat the charge in the imperative: "pray without ceasing" (1Th 5:17); "with all prayer and supplication praying at all seasons in the Spirit, and watching thereto in all perseverance and supplication for all the saints" (Eph 6:18); "Continue steadfastly in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving" (Col 4:2); "I desire therefore that the men pray in every place, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and disputing" (1Ti 2:8); "In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your⁺ requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your⁺ hearts and your⁺ thoughts in Christ Jesus" (Phil 4:6-7). James gives the rule for the ordinary cases of life: "Is any among you⁺ suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praise" (Jas 5:13). The writer of Hebrews names the disposition with which it is to be done: "Let us therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help [us] in time of need" (Heb 4:16). Sirach adds the case of the sickbed: "My son, in sickness do not be negligent; Pray to God, for he can heal" (Sir 38:9).

When and How Often

The patterns are concrete. The morning is the standard hour — "O Yahweh, in the morning you will hear my voice; In the morning I will order [my prayer] to you, and will keep watch" (Ps 5:3). Some keep three watches in the day: "Evening, and morning, and at noonday, I will complain, and moan; And he will hear my voice" (Ps 55:17). Daniel keeps the same rhythm under threat: "now his windows were open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, and he kneeled on his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God" (Da 6:10). The night is also given over to it: Jesus "went out into the mountain to pray; and he continued all night in prayer to God" (Lu 6:12). Mark records his own habit at the other end of the day — "in the morning, a great while before day, he rose up and went out, and departed into a deserted place, and there prayed" (Mr 1:35). Paul's rule sets no boundary at all: "pray without ceasing" (1Th 5:17).

Posture and Place

The body takes part in the act. People stand to pray — "Solomon stood before the altar of Yahweh in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven" (1Ki 8:22); "whenever you⁺ stand praying, forgive" (Mr 11:25); even the boasting Pharisee "stood and prayed these things to himself" (Lu 18:11). They kneel — "And it was so, that, when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication to Yahweh, he arose from before the altar of Yahweh, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread forth toward heaven" (1Ki 8:54), Solomon doing the same on a bronze scaffold (2Ch 6:13), Ezra "with my garment and my robe rent, I fell on my knees" (Ezr 9:5), Paul "I bow my knees to the Father" (Eph 3:14), Jesus "knelt down and prayed" (Lu 22:41), and the Psalter's call: "Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before Yahweh our Maker" (Ps 95:6). They bow the face to the ground — "And Moses hurried, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped" (Ex 34:8); "Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he bowed himself down on the earth, and put his face between his knees" (1Ki 18:42); "Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground" (2Ch 20:18); "Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and worshiped" (Jos 5:14); Moses and Aaron "fell on their faces" at the door of the tent of meeting (Nu 20:6). The hands are lifted: "Let us lift up our heart with our hands to God in the heavens" (La 3:41); "lifting up holy hands, without wrath and disputing" (1Ti 2:8). The place is sometimes secret — Daniel's chamber, Elisha's room with the dead boy (1Ki 17:19-20), Moses' forty days alone (De 9:25) — and sometimes public, in the assembly or in the temple, of which Yahweh says, "my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples" (Is 56:7).

Patterns to Avoid

Prayer can also be done badly. "Don't be rash with your mouth, and don't let your heart be in a hurry to utter anything before God; for God is in heaven, and you upon earth: therefore let your words be few" (Ec 5:2). The prayer of an unjust man is itself an offense: "He who turns away his ear from hearing the law, Even his prayer is disgusting" (Pr 28:9). Ben Sira gives the direct version: "One praying, and another cursing, To whose voice will the Master listen?" and "a man fasting for his sins, And going again and doing the same, Who will hearken to his prayer?" (Sir 34:29, 31). Elijah's mockery of the Baal-prophets supplies the satirical limit case of prayer in a loud voice to no one: "Cry aloud; for he is a god: either he is musing, or he has gone aside, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he sleeps and must be awakened" (1Ki 18:27). And the law of unanswered prayer is real: Jonah's request for his own death (Jon 4:3), Elijah's under the juniper (1Ki 19:4), Moses' kill-me request in the wilderness (Nu 11:15) — all examples of unwise prayers.

True Prayer Heard

The other side of the same canon is the steady promise that real prayer is heard. "O you who hear prayer, To you will all flesh come" (Ps 65:2). "The sacrifice of the wicked is disgusting to Yahweh; But the prayer of the upright is his delight" (Pr 15:8). "Yahweh is far from the wicked; But he hears the prayer of the righteous" (Pr 15:29). "Call to me, and I will answer you, and will show you great and difficult things, which you don't know" (Jer 33:3). "And it will come to pass that, before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear" (Is 65:24). "Then you will call, and Yahweh will answer; you will cry, and he will say, Here I am" (Is 58:9). "He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble" (Ps 91:15). The Psalmist generalizes from his own experience: "In my distress I called on Yahweh, And cried to my God: He heard my voice out of his temple" (Ps 18:6); "[The righteous] cried, and Yahweh heard, And delivered them out of all their troubles" (Ps 34:17). Ben Sira keeps the same line for the dispossessed: "He will not respect the person of the poor, But hearkens to the supplications of the distressed"; "He does not ignore the cry of the orphan, Nor the widow when she pours out her complaint"; "The cry of the poor passes through the clouds, And until it reaches [God] it does not rest" (Sir 35:16, 17, 21).

Conditions for Successful Prayer

The conditions are specified. Faith without doubt: "let him ask in faith, doubting nothing: for he who doubts is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed" (Jas 1:6); "Therefore I say to you⁺, All things that you⁺ pray and ask for, believe that you⁺ receive them, and you⁺ will have them" (Mr 11:24). A motive that is not self-indulgence: "You⁺ ask, and don't receive, because you⁺ ask amiss, that you⁺ may spend [it] in your⁺ pleasures" (Jas 4:3). Obedience: "and whatever we ask we receive of him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight" (1Jn 3:22). Conformity to God's will: "And this is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us" (1Jn 5:14). Continuance in Christ: "If you⁺ stay in me, and my words stay in you⁺, ask whatever you⁺ will, and it will be done to you⁺" (Jn 15:7). Mutual confession and forgiveness: "Confess therefore your⁺ sins one to another, and pray one for another, that you⁺ may be healed" (Jas 5:16); "whenever you⁺ stand praying, forgive, if you⁺ have anything against anyone" (Mr 11:25); and from Sirach, "Forgive an injury [done to you] by your neighbor, And then, when you pray, your sins will be forgiven" (Sir 28:2). Wholehearted seeking: "And you⁺ will seek me, and find me, when you⁺ will search for me with all your⁺ heart" (Jer 29:13). The whole list is rolled up into the temple-promise of 2Ch 7:14: "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

Causes of Failure

When the conditions are absent, the answer is silence. Hidden sin closes the channel: "If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear" (Ps 66:18); "your⁺ iniquities have separated between you⁺ and your⁺ God, and your⁺ sins have hid his face from you⁺, so that he will not hear" (Is 59:2); "And when you⁺ spread forth your⁺ hands, I will hide my eyes from you⁺; yes, when you⁺ make many prayers, I will not hear: your⁺ hands are full of blood" (Is 1:15). Deafness toward the poor produces deafness toward the supplicant: "Whoever stops his ears at the cry of the poor, He also will cry, but will not be heard" (Pr 21:13). Refusal of God's prior call returns in kind: "Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me" (Pr 1:28); "Then they will cry to Yahweh, but he will not answer them; yes, he will hide his face from them at that time, according as they have wrought evil in their doings" (Mi 3:4); "as he cried out, and they would not hear, so they will cry, and I will not hear, said Yahweh of hosts" (Zec 7:13). Saul, who had murdered the Lord's priests, becomes the canonical figure of God's silence: "when Saul inquired of [the Speech of] Yahweh, Yahweh did not answer him, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets" (1Sa 28:6); compare 1Sa 14:37, where the answer is again withheld. Even the people's tears can be refused: "you⁺ wept before Yahweh; but Yahweh didn't listen to your⁺ voice, nor gave ear to you⁺" (De 1:45).

Sometimes Refused

Some petitions are denied because they are not in accord with God's will. Moses asked to cross the Jordan: "But Yahweh was furious with me for your⁺ sakes, and didn't listen to me" (De 3:26). Moses asked to see the face of God: "You can not see my face; for man will not see me and live" (Ex 33:20). David fasted for seven days for his child: "David therefore implored God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night on the earth" — the child died (2Sa 12:16). Paul prayed three times that the thorn would be removed (2Co 12:8); the answer came in another form. Through Ezekiel, Yahweh refuses even to be inquired of: "As I live, says the Sovereign Yahweh, I will not be inquired of by you⁺" (Eze 20:3).

Brief Prayers

Brevity is sanctioned and modeled. "Don't be rash with your mouth ... let your words be few" (Ec 5:2). Jabez's prayer is one verse: "Oh that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from evil, that it does not grieve me!" (1Ch 4:10). Hezekiah, on the prospect of death, simply turns his face to the wall and says, "Remember now, O Yahweh, I urge you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart" (2Ki 20:3 / Is 38:3). Elijah at Carmel asks in two lines: "Hear me, O Yahweh, hear me, that this people may know that you, Yahweh, are God" (1Ki 18:37). The publican's whole prayer is one clause: "God, be merciful to me a sinner" (Lu 18:13).

Importunity

Against brevity stands the parallel motif of pressing on. Jacob's wrestling becomes the type: "I will not let you go, except you bless me" (Ge 32:26). Abraham descends from fifty to ten in his negotiation for Sodom — "Oh don't let the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: perhaps ten will be found there" (Ge 18:32). Moses fell down before Yahweh "the forty days and forty nights ... I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your⁺ sin" (De 9:18, 25). Jesus told a parable to the same effect: a friend at midnight, where "because of his importunity he will arise and give him as many as he needs" (Lu 11:8); and the unjust judge, where the widow's continual coming wears him out (Lu 18:1-8). His own praying in Gethsemane intensifies under the weight: "And he was in great distress, and was praying urgently, and his sweat became like drops of blood falling down on the ground" (Lu 22:44). James points to the Old Testament: "Confess therefore your⁺ sins one to another, and pray one for another ... The supplication of a righteous man avails much in its working. Elijah was a man of like passions with us, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain" (Jas 5:16-17).

Special Exhortations to Ask

A second register of New Testament sayings issues bare invitations. "Ask, and it will be given you⁺; seek, and you⁺ will find; knock, and it will be opened to you⁺" (Lu 11:9). "And whatever you⁺ will ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son" (Jn 14:13). "If you⁺ will ask me anything in my name, I will do [it]" (Jn 14:14). "Until now have you⁺ asked nothing in my name: ask, and you⁺ will receive, that your⁺ joy may be made full" (Jn 16:24). "If any of you⁺ lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and does not reproach" (Jas 1:5). "And this is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us" (1Jn 5:14). At Gibeon Yahweh extends the open offer in person: "Ask what I will give you" (1Ki 3:5), and Solomon's answer of wisdom over wealth is heard. Zechariah turns the same invitation toward weather: "Ask⁺ of Yahweh rain in the time of the latter rain" (Zec 10:1).

Prayers Answered

The historical books are largely a register of answers. Hagar's voice is heard in the wilderness; Eliezer's quiet test on the well at Nahor is met (Ge 24:14). The Israelites' cries from Egyptian bondage are answered, and so are the prayers of every judge whose name the cycle records. Hannah's prayer for a child is granted: "I prayed for this lad; and Yahweh has given me my petition which I asked of him" (1Sa 1:27). Samuel's burnt offering and cry against the Philistines bring on the thunder that routs them (1Sa 7:9-10). Solomon's request for wisdom is exceeded by Yahweh's grant: "look, I have done according to your word: see, I have given you a wise and an understanding heart" (1Ki 3:12), and his temple-prayer is sealed — "I have heard your prayer and your supplication, that you have made before me" (1Ki 9:3). Elijah's prayer at the altar brings down fire (1Ki 18:37-38), and his earlier prayer raises the widow's son (1Ki 17:19-20). Elisha's prayer blinds the Aramean army (2Ki 6:18) and his earlier vision answers the same Aramaean threat. Jehoahaz's plea is heard "for he saw the oppression of Israel" (2Ki 13:4). Hezekiah and Isaiah pray under Sennacherib's threat; Yahweh "sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty men of valor" (2Ch 32:21); compare 2Ki 19:19-20. Manasseh in chains in Babylon humbles himself, "and was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem" (2Ch 33:13). Asa is helped against an enemy of myriads (1Ch 5:20). Jehoshaphat in the chariot is rescued (2Ch 18:31). Daniel receives the secret of Nebuchadnezzar's dream in a vision of the night (Da 2:19) and the angelic word: "from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come for your words' sake" (Da 10:12). Gideon's signs of the fleece are given both ways (Jud 6:39-40), and Manoah's request to learn how to raise Samson is answered (Jud 13:9). Ezra's fast for safe passage is honored: "we fasted and implored our God for this: and he was entreated of us" (Ezr 8:23). Even at Marah Yahweh shows Moses a tree and heals the bitter water (Ex 15:25).

Promises of Answer

The promise side of the equation runs through prophets and apostles. "And it will come to pass that, before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear" (Is 65:24). "The poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue fails for thirst; I, Yahweh, will answer them, I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them" (Is 41:17). "I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined ... they will call on my name, and I will hear them" (Zec 13:9). "If you⁺ stay in me, and my words stay in you⁺, ask whatever you⁺ will, and it will be done to you⁺" (Jn 15:7). Sirach completes the line into the Sirachian house code: "He who honors [his] father will rejoice under [his] sons, And in the day of his prayer he will be heard" (Sir 3:5).

Answer Delayed

The answer can be slow. The whole Sennacherib episode runs through a night of waiting; Daniel is told that his words were heard from day one but the angel was twenty-one days delayed (Da 10:12-13). The Psalmist gives the form to the experience: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? ... O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you don't answer; And in the night season, and am not silent" (Ps 22:1-2); "I waited patiently for Yahweh; And he inclined to me, and heard my cry" (Ps 40:1). Habakkuk asks the same question outright: "O Yahweh, how long shall I cry, and you will not hear? I cry out to you of violence, and you will not save" (Hab 1:2). Jesus' parable of the unjust judge ends with the same pressure: "And will not God avenge his elect, that cry to him day and night, and [yet] he is long-suffering over them?" (Lu 18:7).

Answer Above the Petition

Solomon asked for wisdom and was given riches and honor with it (1Ki 3:12). Paul asked that the thorn be taken away and was answered with a promise of grace (2Co 12:9). Martha and Mary asked Jesus to come heal their brother and received him back from death (Jn 11). The Israelites lusted for the meat of Egypt and got their meat with leanness of soul (Ps 106:14-15) — the answer "different from the request" can also be a judgment.

With Confession, Fasting, Sackcloth, and Tears

The act is often joined to bodily self-affliction. Daniel "set my face to the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes" (Da 9:3), and the body of his prayer is straight confession: "Oh, Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and loving-kindness with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and have committed iniquity" (Da 9:4). Ezra prays the same way: "I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to you, my God; for our iniquities are increased over our head" (Ezr 9:6); "while Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there was gathered together to him out of Israel a very great assembly of men and women and children; for the people wept very intensely" (Ezr 10:1). Nehemiah sat down "and wept, and mourned certain days; and I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven" (Ne 1:4). Jeremiah confesses: "We acknowledge, O Yahweh, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against you" (Jer 14:20). Job's prayer in disaster takes the bodily form: "Then Job arose, and tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground, and worshiped" (Job 1:20).

Prayers of the Patriarchs and the Wilderness

The named examples carry most of the weight. Enosh: "Then it was begun to call on the name of [the Speech of] Yahweh" (Ge 4:26). Abraham at Mamre presses Yahweh down from fifty to ten in the long negotiation for Sodom (Ge 18:23-32) and is heard. Eliezer at the well asks Yahweh to mark the bride for Isaac by the offer of water for camels (Ge 24:12). Jacob at Mahanaim recalls the covenant — "O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O Yahweh, who said to me, Return to your country" (Ge 32:9) — and that night wrestles a man until daybreak: "Your name will not be Jacob anymore, but Israel: for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed" (Ge 32:28). At the Red Sea Moses cries out and is told to lift the rod (Ex 14:15); at Marah he cries and is shown the tree (Ex 15:25). The whole pattern of Moses-as-intercessor is given in his prayer for the Exodus generation: "And Moses returned to Yahweh, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made themselves gods of gold" (Ex 32:31), and again, "And now, I pray you, let the power of the Lord be great, according as you have spoken" (Nu 14:17). His shortest intercession is for his sister: "Heal her, O God, I urge you" (Nu 12:13).

Prayers of the Kings and the Prophets

David's prayers stand beside the Psalter. After Nathan's oracle he goes in and sits before Yahweh — "Who am I, O Sovereign Yahweh, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?" (2Sa 7:18) — and pleads the covenant word. Solomon at the dedication of the temple stands before the altar and lifts his hands toward heaven: "O Yahweh, the God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above, or on earth beneath ... But will God in very deed dwell on the earth? Look, heaven and the heaven of heavens can't contain you; how much less this house that I have built!" (1Ki 8:22-27). His asking for an understanding heart, not riches, gets both (1Ki 3:6-12). Hezekiah, faced with Sennacherib's letter, goes up to the house of Yahweh and spreads it out, praying as one who knows the political stakes: "Now therefore, O Yahweh our God, save us, I urge you, out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you Yahweh are God alone" (2Ki 19:15-19). Daniel, faced with the death-decree, opens his window toward Jerusalem and continues his three-times-a-day rule (Da 6:10) and later "set my face to the Lord God ... with fasting and sackcloth and ashes" (Da 9:3). Habakkuk gives over a whole psalm to the form: "A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, set to Shigionoth. O Yahweh, I have heard the report of you, and am afraid: O Yahweh, revive your work in the midst of the years; In the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy" (Hab 3:1-2). Jonah, "out of the insides of the fish," prays a psalm of his own: "I called by reason of my affliction to Yahweh, And he answered me; Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, [And] you heard my voice ... Salvation is of Yahweh" (Jon 2:1-9). Jabez asks shortly and gets exactly what he asks (1Ch 4:10). Hannah, at the door of the tabernacle in bitterness of soul, prays for a son (1Sa 1:10) — and afterward returns him: "I prayed for this lad; and Yahweh has given me my petition" (1Sa 1:27).

Prayers in the Apocrypha

The atom rows include a substantial register from the deuterocanonical literature. In 1 Maccabees the assembly prays before battle: "And the assembly was gathered that they might be ready for battle: and that they might pray, and ask mercy and compassion" (1Ma 3:44); "they assembled together, and came to Maspha opposite Jerusalem: for in Maspha was a place of prayer heretofore in Israel" (1Ma 3:46). They cry over the desecrated temple — "your holies are trodden down, and are profaned, And your priests are in mourning ... How shall we be able to stand before their face, Unless you help us?" (1Ma 3:50-53) — and submit themselves with the formula "Nevertheless as it shall be the will of God in heaven so be it done" (1Ma 3:60). Judas at Beth-horon recalls David and Goliath: "Blessed are you, O Savior of Israel, Who broke the violence of the mighty by the hand of your servant David" (1Ma 4:30). The cleansed temple is named "a house of prayer and supplication for your people" (1Ma 7:37). In the deuterocanonical Sirach the practice is summed up: "He applies his heart to rise up early to the Lord who made him; And before the Most High he makes supplication, And opens his mouth in prayer, And makes supplication for his sins" (Sir 39:5). The same sage prays for the dispersed: "Hear the prayer of your servants, According to your favor towards your people. That all the ends of the earth may know That you are the Eternal God" (Sir 36:17). His personal short forms run almost to a checklist — "O that one would set a watch over my mouth" (Sir 22:27); "O Lord, Father, and Master of my life, Do not abandon me to their counsel" (Sir 23:4); "But in all these things entreat God, That he may direct your steps in truth" (Sir 37:15); "I lifted up my voice from the earth, And from the gates of Sheol I cried" (Sir 51:9); "Then Yahweh heard my voice, And gave ear to my supplication" (Sir 51:11); "In my youth I made supplication and prayer, And I will seek her out even to the end" (Sir 51:14).

The Prayers of Jesus

The Gospels record both Jesus' private devotions and his public prayers. Withdrawal is the regular pattern: "But he withdrew himself in the deserts, and prayed" (Lu 5:16); "he went out into the mountain to pray; and he continued all night in prayer to God" (Lu 6:12); "And it came to pass, as he was praying apart, the disciples were with him" (Lu 9:18); "And after he had taken leave of them, he departed into the mountain to pray" (Mr 6:46); "in the morning, a great while before day, he rose up and went out, and departed into a deserted place, and there prayed" (Mr 1:35). His public prayer is short and, characteristically, set in front of the Father in audible address: "Father, I thank you that you heard me. And I knew that you hear me always" (Jn 11:41-42). Luke marks his baptism with the same — "Jesus also having been baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened" (Lu 3:21). The author of Hebrews preserves the apostolic memory of his prayer life under stress: "Who in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and having been heard for his godly fear" (Heb 5:7). It is on the strength of just this practice that one of his disciples one day asks, "Lord, teach us to pray, even as John also taught his disciples" (Lu 11:1) — and Jesus gives him the form preserved by Luke: "Father, Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And bring us not into temptation" (Lu 11:2-4).

Gethsemane

The longest single account of Jesus praying is the night in the garden. Mark sets the scene tersely: "And they come to a place which was named Gethsemane: and he says to his disciples, Sit⁺ here, while I pray" (Mr 14:32). Mark's record of the prayer itself preserves the Aramaic form: "Abba, Father, all things are possible to you; remove this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what you will" (Mr 14:36). Luke records the parallel: "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but yours, be done" (Lu 22:42), with the marks of the agony — "he was parted from them about a stone's cast; and he knelt down and prayed" (Lu 22:41), "he was in great distress, and was praying urgently, and his sweat became like drops of blood falling down on the ground" (Lu 22:44). The prayer in distress is repeated in John in summary form: "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause I came to this hour" (Jn 12:27).

The Long Prayer of John 17

The longest prayer of Jesus on record is the prayer at the supper (Jn 17). It opens, "These things Jesus spoke; and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify you" (Jn 17:1). It defines eternal life — "this is eternal life, that they should know you the only true God, and him whom you sent, [even] Jesus Christ" (Jn 17:3) — and prays for the disciples who have received the Father's name and word: "I pray for them: I don't pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me; for they are yours" (Jn 17:9). It does not ask for their removal — "I don't pray that you should take them from the world, but that you should keep them from the evil [one]" (Jn 17:15) — but for their sanctification in the truth (Jn 17:17). It widens the circle: "Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also that believe on me through their word; that they may all be one; even as you, Father, [are] in me, and I in you; that they also may be in us; that the world may believe that you sent me" (Jn 17:20-21). It closes with the desire that they see his glory and that the Father's love be in them (Jn 17:24-26).

Intercession

A whole stratum of the canon gives the act of one person praying for another. Christ's intercession is the apex. Isaiah has named him in advance: "he ... made intercession for the transgressors" (Is 53:12). The risen Christ "is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them" (Heb 7:25); he is the one "who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us" (Ro 8:34). His own disciple-prayer at the supper — "I will pray the Father, and he will give you⁺ another Supporter, that he may be with you⁺ forever" (Jn 14:16) — and his word to Peter — "I made supplication for you, that your faith does not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, establish your brothers" (Lu 22:32) — give the form. The Spirit himself joins in the same office: "the Spirit also helps our infirmity: for we don't know how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit himself makes intercession for [us] with groanings which can't be uttered; and he who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he makes intercession for the saints according to [the will of] God" (Ro 8:26-27). On the human side, Moses pleads for Israel after the calf — "And Moses returned to Yahweh, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin" (Ex 32:31) — and again at Kadesh: "And now, I pray you, let the power of the Lord be great, according as you have spoken" (Nu 14:17). Samuel prays for Israel at Mizpah: "Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray for you⁺ to Yahweh" (1Sa 7:5), and Israel sends back the request: "Don't cease to cry to Yahweh our God for us" (1Sa 7:8). David interposes for the people after the census: "Is it not I who commanded the people to be numbered? It is even I who have sinned and done very wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? let your hand, I pray you, O Yahweh my God, be against me" (1Ch 21:17). The man of God prays for Jeroboam's withered hand: "Entreat now the favor of Yahweh your God, and pray for me" (1Ki 13:6). Hezekiah prays for the people who came to the passover unprepared: "Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, The good Yahweh pardon everyone that sets his heart to seek God, Yahweh, the God of his fathers, though [he is] not [cleansed] according to the purification of the sanctuary" (2Ch 30:18-19). Job is told to pray for his accusers: "Yahweh turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his companions" (Job 42:10). Psalm 106 keeps the same memory: "Therefore he said [by his Speech] that he would destroy them, Had not Moses his chosen one stood before him in the breach" (Ps 106:23). On the human-to-Christ side stand the friends who carry the sick — the deaf man with the impediment in his speech, "they bring to him one who was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they urge him to lay his hand on him" (Mr 7:32) — Simon Peter's mother-in-law, where "they tell him of her" (Lu 4:38), the father out of the multitude crying for his son (Lu 9:38), and the nobleman who pleads, "Sir, come down before my child dies" (Jn 4:49).

Requests for Prayer

The apostles make the request explicit. "Brothers, pray also for us" (1Th 5:25). "Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run and be glorified, even as also [it is] with you⁺" (2Th 3:1). "Now I urge you⁺, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, that you⁺ strive together with me in your⁺ prayers to God for me" (Ro 15:30). "Pray for us: for we are persuaded that we have a good conscience, desiring to live honorably in all things" (Heb 13:18). Paul's specific request is that he speak rightly: "and on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in opening my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the good news" (Eph 6:19).

Prayer for the Church and Its People

Apostolic prayer for fellow believers is a constant. "do not cease to give thanks for you⁺, making mention [of you⁺] in my prayers" (Eph 1:16). "For this cause I bow my knees to the Father" (Eph 3:14). "We give thanks to God always for all of you⁺, making mention [of you⁺] in our prayers" (1Th 1:2). "We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you⁺" (Col 1:3). Epaphras, "always striving for you⁺ in his prayers, that you⁺ may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God" (Col 4:12). "always in every supplication of mine on behalf of all of you⁺ making my supplication with joy" (Phil 1:4). "For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the good news of his Son, how I unceasingly make mention of you⁺" (Ro 1:9). Paul's letter to a friend takes the same form: "I urge you for my child, whom I have begotten in my bonds, Onesimus" (Phm 1:10).

The Vocabulary of Imprecation

Within Israel's prayer life there is a sustained imprecatory register. Moses against Korah's company: "Don't respect their offering: I haven't taken one donkey from them, neither have I hurt one of them" (Nu 16:15). Samson, blinded: "O Sovereign Yahweh, remember me, I pray you, and strengthen me, I pray you, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes" (Jud 16:28). David: "Hold them guilty, O God; Let them fall by their own counsels; Thrust them out in the multitude of their transgressions; For they have rebelled against you" (Ps 5:10); "All my enemies will be put to shame and intensely troubled: They will turn back, they will be put to shame suddenly" (Ps 6:10); "Let them be put to shame and confounded together Who seek after my soul to destroy it: Let them be turned backward and brought to dishonor Who delight in my hurt" (Ps 40:14). Jeremiah turns it on his persecutors: "But, O Yahweh of hosts, who judges righteously, who tries the heart and the mind, I will see your vengeance on them; for to you I have revealed my cause" (Jer 11:20); "pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter" (Jer 12:3); "let me see your vengeance on them; for to you I have revealed my cause" (Jer 20:12). Lamentations echoes the same: "You will pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of Yahweh" (La 3:66). Paul, writing to Galatia, calls down the same kind of curse against those who preach a different gospel: "let him be accursed" (Ga 1:8-9), and warns about Alexander the coppersmith: "the Lord will render to him according to his works" (2Ti 4:14). Within the same atom field, the only UPDV-available "prayer for enemies" — in the standard sense of asking good for them — comes through the negative: 1 Maccabees gives the imprecatory prayer against the king's officer ("Be avenged of this man, and his army, and let them fall by the sword: remember their blasphemies, and do not give them a dwelling place"; 1Ma 7:38), and the Lukan saying "Father, forgive them; for they don't know what they do" is excluded from the UPDV at Lu 23:34a, leaving intercession-for-enemies notably thin in this canon.

Submission

The mark of all such prayer is submission. Jesus' "not what I will, but what you will" (Mr 14:36) is the standard. The same form is in his words at the supper — "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son" (Jn 17:1) — and his Lukan submission, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but yours, be done" (Lu 22:42). David, watching his child die, gives his own version: "While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept ... but now he is dead, why should I fast? can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me" (2Sa 12:22-23). Job, on the day of disaster: "Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away; blessed be the name of Yahweh" (Job 1:21).

Prayer in the Spirit, in Christ's Name

The apostolic synthesis brings several of these threads together. "with all prayer and supplication praying at all seasons in the Spirit" (Eph 6:18). "we don't know how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit himself makes intercession for [us] with groanings which can't be uttered" (Ro 8:26). "If you⁺ stay in me, and my words stay in you⁺, ask whatever you⁺ will" (Jn 15:7). "If you⁺ will ask me anything in my name, I will do [it]" (Jn 14:14). "Until now have you⁺ asked nothing in my name: ask, and you⁺ will receive, that your⁺ joy may be made full" (Jn 16:24). The boldness of Hebrews — "Let us therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace" (Heb 4:16) — and the boldness of John's first letter — "if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us" (1Jn 5:14) — name the same posture. Through the same Spirit, in the same name, with the same submission to the same Father, "every place" (1Ti 2:8) is opened as a place of prayer.

The House of Prayer

The institutional locus is the temple. Solomon's dedication-prayer says it: "If they sin against you ... and they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul ... then hear in heaven your dwelling-place; and when you hear, forgive" (1Ki 8:46-50, summarizing the longer text given here in 1Ki 8:22-61). Isaiah declares the wider invitation: "even them I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer ... for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples" (Is 56:7). The Apocalypse keeps the image: "the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints" (Re 5:8); "another angel came and was standing over the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given to him much incense, that he should add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel's hand" (Re 8:3-4). The act of prayer ends, in this canon, where it began — at the altar, before the face of God, with words that have been heard.