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Summary
- Micah 6:8 gives the pattern for a prayer for justice: “to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.”
- In Luke 18:1–8 Jesus tells of a widow who kept asking an unjust judge for justice, and teaches “that men ought always to pray, and not to faint”; Romans 12:19 forbids private revenge.
- Traditional prayers are quoted from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer (“For Social Justice,” “For Courts of Justice”), the Orthodox Great Compline in Hapgood’s 1906 translation, and the 1888 Catholic Manual of Prayers (“For Enemies”).
- Short prayers cover false accusation, a court hearing, unfair treatment at work, the oppressed, equal treatment, speaking up for others, slow justice, and justice with mercy.
- The King James Version often says “judgment” where modern translations say “justice,” as in Amos 5:24.
- For a crime, danger or a legal dispute, prayer goes alongside the police, a lawyer or legal aid.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1611), text of Project Gutenberg eBook no. 10 (Leviticus 19:15; Psalm 9:9; 37:7; 43:1; 85:10; 89:14; Proverbs 29:26; 31:9; Isaiah 1:17; Amos 5:24; Micah 6:8; Habakkuk 1:2; Matthew 5:6, 44; Luke 18:1–8; Acts 10:34; Romans 12:19; Colossians 4:1; 1 Peter 2:23). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10
- The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Amos 5:24 and Micah 6:8, via Bible Gateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Amos%205%3A24%3BMicah%206%3A8&version=ESV
- The Book of Common Prayer (Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A.), Standard Book of 1928. Prayers, “For Courts of Justice,” p. 35, and “For Social Justice,” p. 44. PDF facsimile: https://www.artisticdailyprayers.org/uploads/3/0/1/6/30164961/bcp1928std.pdf
- Hapgood, Isabel Florence, trans. Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic (Greco-Russian) Church. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, 1906. The Office of Grand Compline, closing prayer, p. 163. https://www.ponomar.net/data/hapgood.pdf
- A Manual of Prayers for the Use of the Catholic Laity, prepared and published by order of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore. New York: Catholic Publication Society, 1888. Occasional Prayers, “For Enemies,” p. 170. https://archive.org/details/AManualOfPrayers1888/page/170/mode/1up
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