The Prayer of Jabez.

The Prayer of Jabez is found in the Old Testament in the first book of Chronicles, chapter 4 and verse 10. The prayer of Jabez is inserted as a note in the detailed genealogy of the clans of Judah. Such notes by the Chronicler are intended to give the text its realism, these are real people not fictional characters. The following translation of the Prayer of Jabez is taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the bible.

"Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying,
'Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border,
and that your hand might be with me,
and that you would keep me from hurt and harm!'
And God granted what he asked."
1 Chronicles 4:10.

Who was Jabez, and why is the Jabez Prayer important?

In truth, we know very little about Jabez. We only know that he was a descendant of King David, and that he was given his name because he gave his mother great pain in labour - the hebrew for 'pain' sounds very similar to 'Jabez'! Having such a name in a period when superstition was rampant would have led many to believe that Jabez was unlucky. The prayer of Jabez, however, shows that superstition is irrelevant to those who put their trust in the one true God.

In recent years the Jabez prayer has been made extremely popular by Bruce Wilkinson in his inspirational book about this prayer. There are now many resources, available both in print and online, encouraging the Christian to embrace Jabez's simple, but rewarding, trust in God.

The simplicity of the Jabez prayer, however, might be misleading to some - remember that prayer is a loving expression of a deep and devoted relationship with God through Jesus, not a quick fix solution for those in distress or a wish list for the ambitious.