Famous Prayers Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Lord's Prayer

The Lord's Prayer was given by Jesus to his disciples in response to their request that he "teach" them "to pray." Versions of the prayer may be found in both Luke 11:2-4 and Matthew 6:9-13. The prayer is frequently used in the liturgies of many Christian denominations. This prayer is often called "the Our Father" by Catholics because it begins "Our Father, who art in heaven."
Here is the Roman Catholic version in its entirety:

"Our Father who art in Heaven,
Hallowed be thy name;
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
And forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us;
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil."

Answer: The Shema

The Shahadah is the basic statement of faith of Muslims: "There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his messenger." The Shema Yisrael begins "Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. Blessed be the name of his glorious kingdom forever and ever." It then goes on to include the line quoted above and continues, "And these words that I command you today shall be in your heart. And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall speak of them when you sit at home, and when you walk along the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up. And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

Answer: The Jesus Prayer

This prayer is much esteemed in the Eastern Orthodox church and is a centerpiece of the spiritual classic "The Way of the Pilgrim." In that book, a pilgrim repeats the prayer as part of an aesthetic practice to learn to, as the New Testament says, "pray without ceasing." The prayer is also often said by Anglicans when using the Anglican rosary.

Answer: The Iqama

In Islam, the iqama is the second call to prayer, just before the prayer begins and after the first call to prayer (the adhan).

Answer: The Sinner's Prayer

The prayer does not have a formal, established content, but is used to refer to any prayer in which the speaker confesses his or her sin to God and expresses a desire to establish a personal relationship with Jesus. Evangelical ministers issuing altar calls will often ask those who respond to repeat, line by line, the "sinner's prayer" with them.

Answer: The Gayatria Mantra

The Gayatria Mantra is generally considered to be Hinduism's most representative prayer. This mantra is based on a verse from the hymn of the Rigveda, an ancient, sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns. As part of traditional Brahmin practice, it is recited daily at sunrise.

The prayer has many paraphrases, including this one by Swami Vivekanada: "We meditate on the glory of that Being who has produced this universe; may He enlighten our minds".

Answer: St. Francis of Assisi

This "Prayer for Peace" is attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. The oldest evidence we have of the prayer, however, is from its printing in a French spiritual magazine in 1912. The prayer is often memorized, recited, and sometimes even sung by Christians of various denominations. The English translation of the prayer is as follows:

"Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen."

Answer: Tibetan Buddhism

The full prayer is "I take refuge in my Gurus; I take refuge in the Buddhas; I take refuge in the Dharma; I take refuge in the Sangha," and it is typically repeated three times.

Answer: The Psalms

These words are drawn from Psalm 19:14 and are a regular part of the service in many liturgical Christian churches. The Didache, or "The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles," is a very early Christian catechism of the late first or early second century.

Answer: The Serenity Prayer

The most well known (and probably shortest) from of this prayer is, "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." Niebuhr was an American Christian theologian who started his career as a liberal minister in the 1920s but later shifted to a more neo-orthodox position.

Answer: The Psalms

The Twenty-Third Psalm is one of the most well known and often recited prayers of all time in the Jewish and Christian traditions. It is best known in its King James version:

"The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever."

Answer: Universe

For example, the blessing said for lighting the candles before Shabbat is "Blessed are you, LORD, our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with his commandments and commanded us to light the Shabbat candles." Likewise, the blessing said when affixing a mezuzah (a parchment with verses of the Torah) to a door post is "Blessed are You, Lord, our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with his commandments and commanded us to affix the mezuzah." And before Hannukah candles are lit, this prayer is said: "Blessed are You, Lord, our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with his commandments and commanded us to kindle the Hanukkah lights."

Answer: St. Patrick

The full text of the prayer is:
"Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ where I lie, Christ where I sit, Christ where I arise,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
Salvation is of the Lord.
Salvation is of the Christ.
May your salvation, Lord, be ever with us."

Answer: The Kaddish

The Mourner's Kaddish, which is prayed as part of Jewish mourning rituals, begins with an opening line inspired by Ezekiel 38:23: "I will magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the LORD" (NASB).

Answer: Road

The prayer continues,
"May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields and,
Until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand."

Answer: Jabez

The prayer is from 1 Chronicles 4:10: "Oh, that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that your hand would be with me, and that you would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain" (NKJV). In 2000 Bruce Wilkinson published a best-selling inspirational book based on the prayer called "The Prayer of Jabez: Breaking Through to the Blessed Life."

Answer: Baha'i

These are the concluding lines of a Baha'i prayer for peace, which begins, "Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity. Be fair in thy judgement, and guarded in thy speech. Be a lamp unto those who walk in darkness, and a home to the stranger. Be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light unto the feet of the erring."

Answer: Deuteronomy

This prayer, the Shema, is found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9. Many Jews consider it a mitzvah (religious commandment) to recite the prayer twice a day, and it is often said by children before going to sleep. It is also part of the prayer service in Judaism and is traditionally said upon dying as well.

Answer: light

The mantra concludes, "From death, lead me to immortality / Aum peace, peace, peace." It is found in the Bṛhadâraṇyaka Upaniṣad (1.3.28).

Answer: The Glory Be

The Lord's Prayer, or what Catholics call "The Our Father," makes no mention of the Trinity. Nor does the Shema, which is a Jewish prayer, or St. Francis Assisi's prayer for peace. The "Glory Be," which is also known as the doxology, runs: "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen."

Answer: The Navkar Mantra

The Navkar Mantra, with its "five-fold bow," is considered by Jains to be the "first and foremost" of the mantras. It may be prayed at any time of day and is also called the Namokar Mantra.

Answer: keep

This classic prayer, which dates back to the 18th century, is prayed by millions of children every night. It typically concludes, "If I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take." There are various other versions of the prayer, including one that contains a second verse that continues, "Angels guide me through the night, until I wake in morning light."

Answer: Upon waking up

In Judaism, there are a number of prayers ascribed for specific occasions. This one is said upon waking up. The blessing for surviving illness is "Blessed are you, LORD, our God, King of the Universe, who bestows good things on the unworthy, and has bestowed on me every goodness."

Answer: St. Augustine

St. Augustine was a Roman African who converted from Manichaeism to Christianity after reading an account of the life of Saint Anthony of the Desert. He is author of "Confessions," "Of the City of God" and "On Free Choice of the Will."

Answer: Universal Sufism

This prayer, called "Pir," was written in the early 20th century by the founder of the Universal Sufis, Hazrat Inayat Khan. The translation above is taken from the Sufi Order International website, but there are other translations.