Orthodox prayers before reading the Bible

Prayers to say as you open the Bible, asking God for the light to understand it and the strength to do what it says.

Picture: attributed to Valentin de Boulogne, Saint Paul Writing His Epistles, about 1618–20

5 prayers

Before you read

St John Chrysostom’s prayer before reading Scripture

O Lord Jesus Christ,open the ears of my heartto hear Your word,and to understand and do Your will,for I am a stranger on the earth.

Do not hide Your commandments from me,but open my eyes,so that I may understand the wonders of Your law.Tell me the unknown and hidden thingsof Your wisdom.

I put my hope in You, O my God:enlighten my mind and understandingwith the light of Your knowledge,so that I may not only read what is writtenbut also do it,and so that my reading of the lives and words of the saintsmay not turn to sin for me,but to renewal, enlightenment and holiness,to the salvation of my souland the inheritance of eternal life.

For You give light to those who lie in darkness,and from You comes every good giftand every perfect gift.Amen.

Traditional wording

O Lord Jesus Christ, open the eyes of my heart,that I may hear Thy wordand understand and do Thy will,for I am a sojourner upon the earth.

Do not hide Thy commandments from me,but open mine eyes,that I may perceive the wonders of Thy law.Speak to me the hidden and secret things of Thy wisdom.

On Thee do I set my hope, O my God,that Thou enlighten my mind and understandingwith the light of Thy knowledge,not only to cherish those things which are written, but to do them;that in reading the lives and sayings of the saintsI may not sin,but that they may serve for my restoration, enlightenment and sanctification,for the salvation of my soul,and the inheritance of life everlasting.

For Thou art the enlightenment of those who lie in darkness,and from Thee comes every good deed and every gift.Amen.

Russian prayer books print it under St John Chrysostom’s name, but a shorter form of it comes from a sermon wrongly credited to him. Much of it is the Bible’s own words, and it asks for light to do what we read, not only to read it.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Church Slavonic of the Russian prayer books. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: an unnamed translator, Prayers in English, Azbyka.ru.

Where it comes from, and the Church Slavonic

Before the Gospel

Prayer before reading Scripture

O Master, Lover of mankind,make the pure light of knowing Youshine in our hearts,and open the eyes of our mindto understand the message of Your Gospel.

Plant in us also the fear of Your blessed commandments,so that, trampling down every desire of the flesh,we may live a spiritual life,thinking and doing all that pleases You.

For You, O Christ our God,are the light of our souls and bodies,and to You we give glory,with Your Father, Who has no beginning,and Your all-holy, good and life-giving Spirit,now and always, and for ever and ever.Amen.

Traditional wording, 1906

Illumine our hearts, O God Who lovest mankind,with the pure light of Thy divine knowledge,and open the eyes of our understandingto the comprehension of the proclamation of Thy Gospel.

Implant in us, likewise, the fear of Thy blessed commandments;that, trampling down all carnal desires, we may pursue a godly life,both thinking and performing such things as are well-pleasing unto Thee.

For Thou art the light of our souls, and of our bodies, O Christ our God,and unto Thee do we ascribe glory, together with Thy Father Who is from everlasting,and Thy holy, and blessed, and life-giving Spirit,now, and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

The priest says it at every Divine Liturgy, just before the Gospel is read. Said at home, it asks God for the same light on your own reading.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Greek, with Hapgood’s 1906 translation beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: Isabel F. Hapgood, Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic Church, 1906.

Where Hapgood has “O God Who lovest mankind”, the Greek says “Master, Lover of mankind”.

Where it comes from, and the Greek

In one breath, as you open the book

St Isaac the Syrian’s prayer before reading Scripture

Lord, let me perceive the powerthat is in these words.

Traditional wording, 1923

Lord, grant me to perceive the power that is in them.

St Isaac the Syrian told his readers never to come to the Scriptures without prayer, and gave them this line to say. He called prayer the key that opens their truth.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from A. J. Wensinck’s English of the Syriac (1923), checked against the Russian translation made from the Greek. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: A. J. Wensinck, Mystic Treatises by Isaac of Nineveh, 1923.

In Isaac’s advice, “them” means the words of the Scriptures, so the plain wording says “these words”.

Where it comes from, and the original

When you want to hear, not just read

Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening

Speak, Lord,for Your servant is listening.

Traditional wording, 1611

Speak, LORD;for Thy servant heareth.

The priest Eli taught these words to the boy Samuel when God called him in the night. Said before you read, they ask God to speak and tell Him that you are listening.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Hebrew, with the King James Version beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: The King James translators, The King James Version, 1611.

Where it comes from, and the original

For a love of reading it, and reading it rightly

St Augustine’s prayer before reading Scripture

Let Your Scriptures be my pure delight.Let me not be deceived in them,nor deceive anyone by them.

Lord, listen and have mercy,O Lord my God,light of the blind and strength of the weak,and light of those who see and strength of the strong as well.Listen to my soul,and hear it crying out of the depths.For if Your ears are not there in the depths too,where will we go?Where will we cry out?

The day is Yours, and the night is Yours.At a nod from You the moments fly by.From those moments grant us time to meditateon the hidden things of Your law,and do not close it against us when we knock.

It was not for nothing that You wantedthe dark secrets of so many pages written down,and those forests of pages have their own deer,which shelter in them and are refreshed there,which walk and graze,lie down and chew the cud.O Lord, make me perfect,and open those forests to me.

See, Your voice is my joy.Your voice is worth more than a flood of pleasures.Give me what I love,for I do love,and that love is Your gift.Do not abandon Your own gifts,and do not scorn Your thirsty grass.

Let me confess to You whatever I find in Your books,and hear the voice of praise,and drink You in,and ponder the wonders of Your law,from the beginning, when You made heaven and earth,to the kingdom of Your holy city,which lasts for ever with You.

Traditional wording, 1886

Let Thy Scriptures be my chaste delights.Neither let me be deceived in them, nor deceive out of them.

Lord, hear and pity, O Lord my God,light of the blind, and strength of the weak;even also light of those that see, and strength of the strong,hearken unto my soul, and hear it crying "out of the depths."For unless Thine ears be present in the depths also,whither shall we go? whither shall we cry?

"The day is Thine, and the night also is Thine."At Thy nod the moments flee by.Grant thereof space for our meditations amongst the hidden things of Thy law,nor close it against us who knock.

For not in vain hast Thou willed that the obscure secret of so many pages should be written.Nor is it that those forests have not their harts,betaking themselves therein, and ranging, and walking, and feeding, lying down, and ruminating.Perfect me, O Lord, and reveal them unto me.

Behold, Thy voice is my joy, Thy voice surpasseth the abundance of pleasures.Give that which I love, for I do love; and this hast Thou given.Abandon not Thine own gifts, nor despise Thy grass that thirsteth.

Let me confess unto Thee whatsoever I shall have found in Thy books,and let me hear the voice of praise, and let me imbibe Thee,and reflect on the wonderful things of Thy law;even from the beginning, wherein Thou madest the heaven and the earth,unto the everlasting kingdom of Thy holy city that is with Thee.

Show the whole prayer

In his Confessions, written about AD 400, St Augustine prays that the Scriptures may be his pure delight. He also asks never to be deceived in them, nor to mislead anyone with them.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Latin, with J. G. Pilkington’s translation of 1886 beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: J. G. Pilkington, The Confessions of St. Augustin, 1886.

Pilkington has “those forests”. The plain wording says “those forests of pages”, the dark pages Augustine has just named.

Where it comes from, and the Latin

Scripture for this

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Psalm 119:105 God’s word is a lamp for your feet and a light for your path.

Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words became my joy and my heart’s delight. For I bear Your name, O LORD God of Hosts.

Jeremiah 15:16 Jeremiah found God’s words and ate them, and they became his joy and his heart’s delight.

Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

Luke 24:45 After He rose, Jesus opened His disciples’ minds so that they could understand the Scriptures.

³⁰So Philip ran up and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. ³¹“How can I,” he said, “unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

Acts 8:30-31 An official reading Isaiah asked how he could understand it unless someone guided him, and he invited Philip to sit with him.

¹⁶All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed, and it teaches, corrects and trains us so that we are ready for every good work.

²²Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves. ²³For anyone who hears the word but does not carry it out is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror, ²⁴and after observing himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom, and continues to do so—not being a forgetful hearer, but an effective doer—he will be blessed in what he does.

James 1:22-25 Do what the word says, not only hear it. Hearing alone is like looking in a mirror and forgetting your own face.

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12 God’s word is living and active, sharper than a sword, and it judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.

A psalm for this

Open my eyes that I may see wondrous things from Your law.
Psalm 119:18

The prayer credited to St John Chrysostom borrows this verse, asking God to open our eyes to the wonders of His law.

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