Genesis 24:42-45

24:42 When I came to the spring today, I prayed, ‘O Lord, God of my master Abraham, if you have decided to make my journey successful, ¹  may events unfold as follows: ²  24:43 Here I am, standing by the spring. ³  When ⁴  the young woman goes out to draw water, I’ll say, “Give me a little water to drink from your jug.” 24:44 Then she will reply to me, “Drink, and I’ll draw water for your camels too.” May that woman be the one whom the Lord has chosen for my master’s son.’

24:45 “Before I finished praying in my heart, ⁵  along came Rebekah ⁶  with her water jug on her shoulder! She went down to the spring and drew water. So I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’

Nehemiah 2:4

2:4 The king responded, ⁷  “What is it you are seeking?” Then I quickly prayed to the God of heaven

Psalms 25:1

Psalm 25 ⁸ 

By David.

25:1 O Lord, I come before you in prayer. ⁹ 

Romans 8:26

8:26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how we should pray, ¹⁰  but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings.

¹ tn Heb “if you are making successful my way on which I am going.”

² tn The words “may events unfold as follows” are supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

³ tn Heb “the spring of water.”

⁴ tn Heb “and it will be.”

⁵ tn Heb “As for me, before I finished speaking to my heart.” The adverb טֶרֶם (terem) indicates the verb is a preterite; the infinitive that follows is the direct object.

⁶ tn Heb “Look, Rebekah was coming out.” As in 24:15, the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) is used here for dramatic effect.

⁷ tn Heb “said to me.”

⁸ sn Psalm 25. The psalmist asks for divine protection, guidance and forgiveness as he affirms his loyalty to and trust in the Lord. This psalm is an acrostic; every verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet, except for v. 18, which, like v. 19, begins with ר (resh) instead of the expected ק (qof). The final verse, which begins with פ (pe), stands outside the acrostic scheme.

⁹ tn Heb “to you, O Lord, my life I lift up.” To “lift up” one’s “life” to the Lord means to express one’s trust in him through prayer. See Pss 86:4; 143:8.

¹⁰ tn Or “for we do not know what we ought to pray for.”