The first extended prayer in the Bible arises from the anguish of a couple longing for children. It bursts forth during a conversation initiated by God with Abraham. After the King of Sodom tries to strike a deal that will obligate Abraham, God tells Abraham not to be afraid. God himself will be Abraham’s shield and “very great reward.” To this Abraham retorts: “What can you give me since I remain childless?” (Genesis 15:2). God’s answer to this outburst, or prayer, is to take Abraham outside and point to the night sky: “Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” God pauses, then adds: “So shall your offspring be.”

A God who cares

Abraham’s encounter says much about prayer in the Bible. First, it takes place within the context of a dialogue between God and humankind, initiated by God. It assumes there is a God who cares and can be pleaded with. The person praying expresses themself with honesty and vigor, the prayer often taking the form of a lament about a painful situation. A common pattern involves a crisis, leading to prayer in which the person praying complains about, or laments, the situation and petitions God to intervene. This leads to resolution following divine intervention, which may take the form of a promise.

Petitioning God

According to Genesis, the cult of Israel’s God, Yahweh, begins during the third generation of human life on Earth, when Adam and Eve’s third son Seth has a son called Enosh. At this time, Genesis tells us, people begin to invoke the name of Yahweh.

Many of the earliest prayers are petitions for the birth or protection of children. Isaac’s prayer to Yahweh on behalf of his wife Rebekah leads to her becoming pregnant with the twins Esau and Jacob. The passion of such petitions is sometimes expressed in the names given to longed-for sons. For example, Leah, the first wife of Jacob, names her first son Reuben (“See, a son”), because, she explains, “the Lord has seen my misery” (Genesis 29:32).

Another particularly poignant prayer involves Hagar, the Egyptian concubine of Abraham, Isaac’s father. The jealousy of Abraham’s wife, Sarah, leads to Hagar and her son Ishmael being banished to the wilderness, where they run out of water. Hagar places Ishmael in the shade of a bush, then sits a short distance away because she cannot bear to watch her child die. Her prayer brings a response from the angel of God, who calls out to reassure her of God’s protection. She opens her eyes to see a well.

Prayer beads, used to count prayers, are clasped by members of the congregation at a Catholic church in Baghdad, following the death of Pope John Paul II in 2005.

Prayers of thanksgiving

Another great strand of prayer, praise and thanksgiving, occurs when Abraham sends his servant to Mesopotamia to find a wife for Isaac. The servant petitions God for success in his mission. When his prayer is answered, he bows down and worships Yahweh, saying: “Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master.” The addition of such praise becomes more common later in the Bible. For believers, biblical examples of prayer show that humans can communicate with God and that God listens and responds. In the New Testament, prayer is usually communicated to God in the name of Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit. Prayer relies on promises of the Spirit’s aid in prayer and God’s favorable reception of prayers offered under Jesus’s authority (Romans 8:26 and John 14:13–14).

See also: Esau and Jacob • The Exodus • The Prophet Samuel • The Crucifixion