Bible Verses About Public Prayer

"If they sin against you - for there is no one who doesn't sin - and you are angry with them and hand them over to the enemy, so that they carry them off captive to a land far away or nearby;

then, if they come to their senses in the land where they have been carried away captive, turn back and make their plea to you in the land where they are being held captive, saying, 'We sinned, we acted wrongly, we behaved wickedly,'

if, in the land where they were brought and are being held captive, they return to you with all their heart and being and pray to you toward their own land, which you gave to their ancestors, toward the city you chose and toward the house I have built for your name;

then, from heaven, from where you live, hear their prayer and pleas, uphold their cause, and forgive your people who have sinned against you.

"Now, my God, please, let your eyes be open, and let your ears pay attention to the prayer being made in this place.

"Now go up, ADONAI, God, to your place of rest, you and the ark through which you give strength. "May your cohanim, ADONAI, God, be clothed with salvation; may those loyal to you take joy in good.

"ADONAI, God, don't turn away the face of your anointed one; remember the mercies of your servant David."

then, if my people, who bear my name, will humble themselves, pray, seek my face and turn from their evil ways, I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land.

For now I have chosen and consecrated this house, so that my name can be there forever; my eyes and heart will always be there.

Standing in front of the new courtyard in the house of ADONAI, among those assembled from Y'hudah and Yerushalayim,

he said: "ADONAI, God of our ancestors, you alone are God in heaven. You rule all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and strength, so that no one can withstand you.

You, our God, drove out those living in the land ahead of your people Isra'el and gave it forever to the descendants of Avraham your friend.

They lived in it, built you a sanctuary in it for your name, and said,

'If calamity strikes us, such as war, judgment, disease or famine, we will stand before this house - that is, before you, since your name is in this house - and cry to you in our distress; and you will hear us and rescue us.'

"So now, see: the people of 'Amon, Mo'av and Mount Se'ir, whom you would not let Isra'el invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, so that they turned away from them and did not destroy them,

are now repaying us [evil]; they have come to throw us out of your possession, which you gave us as an inheritance.

Our God! Won't you execute judgment against them? For we haven't strength enough to defeat this huge horde coming against us, and we don't know what to do, but our eyes are on you."

All Y'hudah stood before ADONAI with their little ones, their wives and their children.

On the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Isra'el, wearing sackcloth and with dirt on them, assembled for a fast.

Those descended from Isra'el separated themselves from all foreigners; then they stood up and confessed their own sins and the iniquities of their ancestors.

Standing where they were, they read in the scroll of the Torah of ADONAI their God for one-quarter of the day. For another quarter they confessed and prostrated themselves before ADONAI their God.

On the platform of the L'vi'im stood Yeshua, Bani, Kadmi'el, Sh'vanyah, Buni, Sherevyah, Bani and K'nani; they cried out loudly to ADONAI their God.

Then the L'vi'im Yeshua, Kadmi'el, Bani, Hashavn'yah, Sherevyah, Hodiyah, Sh'vanyah and P'tachyah said, "Stand up, and bless ADONAI your God from everlasting to everlasting; let them say: "'Blessed be your glorious name, exalted above all blessing and praise!

"'You are ADONAI, you alone. You made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their array, the earth and all the things that are in it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve them all. The army of heaven worships you.

"'You are ADONAI, the God who chose Avram, brought him out of Ur-Kasdim and gave him the name of Avraham.