Prayer, Watchfulness, and Fasting

⁴When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven. ⁵Then I said: “O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps His covenant of loving devotion with those who love Him and keep His commandments, ⁶let Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to hear the prayer that I, Your servant, now pray before You day and night for Your servants, the Israelites. I confess the sins that we Israelites have committed against You. Both I and my father’s house have sinned. ⁷We have behaved corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, statutes, and ordinances that You gave Your servant Moses. ⁸Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses when You said, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, ⁹but if you return to Me and keep and practice My commandments, then even if your exiles have been banished to the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for My Name.’ ¹⁰They are Your servants and Your people. You redeemed them by Your great power and mighty hand. ¹¹O Lord, may Your ear be attentive to my prayer and to the prayers of Your servants who delight to revere Your name. Give Your servant success this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” (At that time I was the cupbearer to the king.)

³So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. ⁴And I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed, “O, Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant of loving devotion to those who love Him and keep His commandments, ⁵we have sinned and done wrong. We have acted wickedly and rebelled. We have turned away from Your commandments and ordinances. ⁶We have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, leaders, fathers, and all the people of the land. ⁷To You, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, and all Israel near and far, in all the countries to which You have driven us because of our unfaithfulness to You. ⁸O LORD, we are covered with shame—our kings, our leaders, and our fathers—because we have sinned against You. ⁹To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, even though we have rebelled against Him ¹⁰and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God to walk in His laws, which He set before us through His servants the prophets. ¹¹All Israel has transgressed Your law and turned away, refusing to obey Your voice; so the oath and the curse written in the Law of Moses the servant of God has been poured out on us, because we have sinned against You. ¹²You have carried out the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us a great disaster. For under all of heaven, nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. ¹³Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our iniquities and giving attention to Your truth. ¹⁴Therefore the LORD has kept the calamity in store and brought it upon us. For the LORD our God is righteous in all He does; yet we have not obeyed His voice. ¹⁵Now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and who made for Yourself a name renowned to this day, we have sinned; we have acted wickedly. ¹⁶O Lord, in keeping with all Your righteous acts, I pray that Your anger and wrath may turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all around us. ¹⁷So now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of Your servant. For Your sake, O Lord, cause Your face to shine upon Your desolate sanctuary. ¹⁸Incline Your ear, O my God, and hear; open Your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears Your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before You because of our righteous acts, but because of Your great compassion. ¹⁹O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For Your sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people bear Your name.”

⁵And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward. ⁶But when you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷And when you pray, do not babble on like pagans, for they think that by their many words they will be heard. ⁸Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. ⁹So then, this is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. ¹⁰Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. ¹¹Give us this day our daily bread. ¹²And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ¹³And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ ¹⁴For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours. ¹⁶When you fast, do not be somber like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward. ¹⁷But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, ¹⁸so that your fasting will not be obvious to men, but only to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

³⁶Then Jesus went with His disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and He told them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” ³⁷He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. ³⁸Then He said to them, “My soul is consumed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with Me.” ³⁹Going a little farther, He fell facedown and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.” ⁴⁰Then Jesus returned to the disciples and found them sleeping. “Were you not able to keep watch with Me for one hour?” He asked Peter. ⁴¹“Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” ⁴²A second time He went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cup cannot pass unless I drink it, may Your will be done.” ⁴³And again Jesus returned and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. ⁴⁴So He left them and went away once more and prayed a third time, saying the same thing.

³⁷Then Jesus returned and found them sleeping. “Simon, are you asleep?” He asked. “Were you not able to keep watch for one hour? ³⁸Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

¹Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray at all times and not lose heart: ²“In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected men. ³And there was a widow in that town who kept appealing to him, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ ⁴For a while he refused, but later he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect men, ⁵yet because this widow keeps pestering me, I will give her justice. Otherwise, she will wear me out with her perpetual requests.’” ⁶And the Lord said, “Listen to the words of the unjust judge. ⁷Will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night? Will He delay in helping them? ⁸I tell you, He will promptly carry out justice on their behalf. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?”

²³On their release, Peter and John returned to their own people and reported everything that the chief priests and elders had said to them. ²⁴When the believers heard this, they lifted up their voices to God with one accord. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “You made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them. ²⁵You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of Your servant, our father David: ‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? ²⁶The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against His Anointed One.’ ²⁷In fact, this is the very city where Herod and Pontius Pilate conspired with the Gentiles and the people of Israel against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed. ²⁸They carried out what Your hand and will had decided beforehand would happen. ²⁹And now, Lord, consider their threats, and enable Your servants to speak Your word with complete boldness, ³⁰as You stretch out Your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.” ³¹After they had prayed, their meeting place was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

¹Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch), and Saul. ²While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” ³And after they had fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

¹⁸Pray in the Spirit at all times, with every kind of prayer and petition. To this end, stay alert with all perseverance in your prayers for all the saints. ¹⁹Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will boldly make known the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it fearlessly, as I should.

²Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful, ³as you pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. ⁴Pray that I may declare it clearly, as I should.

⁷The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear-minded and sober, so that you can pray.