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You sit down to pray. Nothing dramatic has happened today. You get a few words in, maybe just “God,” and your throat closes. Your eyes sting. And then you are crying, properly crying, and you are not even sure why.
Afterwards you feel a bit embarrassed. Maybe a bit worried. So you type the question into your phone: why do I cry when I pray? Is something wrong with me? Am I doing it wrong? Is this a breakdown, or is it God?
Here is the short answer, and then the longer one. Nothing is wrong with you. And the Bible has a single sentence about Jesus that answers this more directly than almost anything else in Scripture — a sentence most people have read straight past.
Why Do I Cry When I Pray? Because Prayer Is Where You Stop Holding It
Think about the rest of your day. You hold it together at work, on the bus, in the kitchen, in front of the children, on the phone with family. Most of us are carrying something heavy most of the time, and carrying it well enough that nobody notices.
Prayer is often the first moment in the day when you are not managing anything. You are not performing for anyone. And you are finally talking, out loud or inside, about the real thing. When you say the real thing, the feeling that comes with it usually arrives too.
There is something in the research on crying worth knowing here. When we looked at why people feel better after crying, the strongest thing linked to a cry actually helping was not the tears. It was whether someone was with the person while they cried. Tears seem to work less like a pressure valve and more like a message — and a message wants someone to receive it.
That may be why they come so easily in prayer. For many people, it is the one place they feel sure someone is listening.
If that is where you are right now — wanting God to feel close not only in the tears but in the ordinary hours too — we made a free video guide and companion PDF about exactly that: noticing God’s presence in the everyday moments of real life.
The One Verse That Says Jesus Prayed With Tears
It is tucked into the middle of the letter to the Hebrews, inside a long argument about priests, and it is easy to miss:
“Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;” (Hebrews 5:7)
Read it again slowly. This is Jesus — the very next verse calls him “a Son” — praying with strong crying and tears.
The word translated “crying” is the Greek kraugē. It does not mean a quiet tear running down a cheek. It means an outcry, a raised voice. The word paired with it means strong or mighty. Many modern translations put it simply: “loud cries and tears.”
So the picture here is not someone who composed himself first and then prayed in a calm, proper voice. It is someone praying out loud, voice breaking, face wet.
And the sentence does not end with a correction. It ends with three words: and was heard.
You Will Not Find These Tears in the Garden Stories
Most readers assume Hebrews is talking about the night in the garden of Gethsemane, just before the arrest. That may well be right. But here is a detail almost nobody mentions: none of the Gospel accounts of that night say Jesus cried.
Matthew, Mark and Luke all tell the story. They record his sorrow, which he said was “even unto death.” They record him falling to the ground, kneeling, praying the same words three times. Luke records his sweat falling to the ground. Not one of them mentions tears.
The Gospels do show Jesus weeping — at the grave of his friend Lazarus, and over the city of Jerusalem. But neither moment is described as him praying with tears.
Hebrews 5:7 is the only verse in the Bible that tells us Jesus’s prayers themselves came with tears. And notice it does not say “one night.” It says “in the days of his flesh” — his whole human life. The writer does not tell us how often. Only that it happened, and that nobody thought it needed hiding.
(We looked at what happened to the disciples during that same garden night — Luke says Jesus found them “sleeping for sorrow” — in why you might yawn when you pray. Grief does strange things to bodies at prayer. Sleep is one of them. Tears are another.)
A Word That Once Meant an Olive Branch
There is a second rare word in that verse. The word translated “supplications” is hiketēria, and it appears only this once in the entire New Testament.
Its older meaning is striking. Thayer’s Greek lexicon notes that it originally referred to an olive branch. In the ancient world, a person begging for help would come holding an olive branch wrapped in white wool — a sign that they had come with nothing to offer except their need.
That is the word the writer chose for how Jesus prayed. Not polished. Not in control. Coming empty-handed, asking for help, with a loud voice and wet eyes.
If you have ever cried in prayer and felt like you had nothing to bring but the crying, you are praying the way this verse describes.
“Heard” Did Not Mean “Spared”
Now for the part that is harder, and more honest.
Look at who Jesus was praying to: “him that was able to save him from death.” The verse says he “was heard.” And yet Jesus still went to the cross. He still died.
So whatever “heard” means here, it cannot mean “got exactly what he asked for, when he asked for it.” The tears were not a sign the prayer had failed. And the answer did not look like the pain going away.
The small Greek word behind “from death” is ek, which usually means “out of.” Many readers take that as a quiet pointer to the resurrection: not saved from ever facing death, but brought out the other side of it. That reading fits the rest of the letter. But the verse itself simply says he was heard — and on a hard day, that alone is a lot.
Then there is the last phrase: “heard in that he feared.” The old English word “feared” can throw us. The Greek word is eulabeia, which means reverence — a deep, humble respect toward God. Modern translations usually render it as “because of his reverence” or “because of his reverent submission.”
Put that together and something remarkable is sitting in plain sight. Loud crying and deep reverence are in the same sentence. Hebrews does not treat them as opposites. The tears were not a lapse in reverence that God kindly overlooked. They were part of what reverence sounded like.
Tears are not your prayer breaking down. They are one of its oldest forms.
Why Hebrews Wanted You to Know This
Here is where it turns. The writer did not include this verse just to tell us Jesus felt things deeply. It sits in the middle of an argument about what makes a good priest — a go-between who brings people to God.
Just before it, the letter says this:
“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)
And a few lines later, it says an ordinary priest “can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity” (Hebrews 5:2).
That is the point. Jesus’s tears are his credentials. The reason he can be “touched with the feeling” of what you carry is that he has prayed through tears of his own. When you cry in prayer, you are not bringing something strange to God. You are bringing something your go-between already knows from the inside.
The line right after Hebrews 4:15 is an invitation: “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). Boldly — which, it turns out, can include coming in tears.
Paul picks up the same thread in Romans, writing about the moments when words run out completely:
“Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” (Romans 8:26)
The word for “infirmities” in Romans 8:26 is the same Greek word Hebrews uses for “infirmities” and “infirmity”: astheneia, weakness. Two different letters, one idea. Your weakness is exactly where help arrives. When you are crying too hard to form a sentence, you are not failing to pray. You are standing in the very place Romans 8:26 describes, where the Spirit prays with sounds deeper than words.
There is one more echo, and it is a beautiful one. Hebrews 5:7 puts three words side by side: crying, tears, death. Those same three Greek words appear together again near the very end of the Bible:
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)
The promise was never that you would stop crying in prayer. The promise is that the tears are seen, and that one day God will wipe every one of them away — along with the death and the crying that caused them.
When Crying in Prayer Is Worth a Closer Look
One honest note. Crying when you pray is normal. But if you are crying most days, not only in prayer, and the heaviness never seems to lift, please tell someone — a friend you trust, a pastor, or a doctor, nurse or clinic if you can reach one. That is not a lack of faith. Even on his hardest night, Jesus asked his closest friends to stay near him.
And if you want help finding words on a day when your own have run out, our free Prayer Anywhere assistant writes a heartfelt prayer for whatever moment you are in. It opens in ChatGPT, and a free account works.
What to Do the Next Time the Tears Come
Actions to Take
- Do not stop to compose yourself. Next time tears start in prayer, resist the urge to pause, wipe your face and start again “properly.” Keep going, voice breaking and all. That is how Hebrews says Jesus prayed.
- Say what the tears are about in one plain sentence. When the crying eases for a moment, name it out loud or type it into your phone: “God, this is about ______.” One sentence is enough. The tears often know what you have not admitted yet.
- Tell one person. Send one honest message to someone you trust: “I cried when I prayed today. It was about ______.” Crying seems to help most when somebody else knows. Let God and one human hear it.
Journaling Prompts
- When tears come in prayer, what is the first thing you feel about yourself — and where do you think you learned to feel that?
- What are you managing so well all day that the only place it comes out is when you finally stop and pray?
- If Jesus prayed with loud crying and was heard, what would change if you believed your tears were being heard the same way?
A Prayer for When the Tears Come
God, I started to talk to you and I could not stop crying, and I do not even fully know why. I think I have been holding more than I let anyone see, even you. Thank you that Jesus prayed with tears too, and was heard. When I run out of words, let my crying be my prayer, and let the Spirit say what I cannot. Amen.
A Question Worth Sitting With
Do you think crying in prayer is closer to weakness or closer to reverence? Hebrews puts loud crying and reverence in the same sentence. Tell us in the comments whether that surprises you — we read every one.
Share This
- Hebrews 5:7 says Jesus prayed “with strong crying and tears” and was heard. I’ve always been embarrassed when I cry in prayer. Maybe I don’t need to be.
- None of the Gospel accounts of Gethsemane mention Jesus crying. The only verse that says he prayed with tears is in Hebrews, and it ends with three words: “and was heard.”
- Romans 8:26 says that when we don’t know what to pray, the Spirit prays “with groanings which cannot be uttered.” So on the days I can only cry, I’m still praying.
Questions People Ask
Why do I cry when I pray?
Crying during prayer is common. Prayer is often the first moment in a day when a person stops managing their emotions and speaks honestly about what is heavy, and the feelings tied to those words tend to surface. Research on crying suggests tears help most when a person feels someone is with them, and prayer is where many people feel most sure they are heard. The Bible treats tears in prayer as normal: Hebrews 5:7 says Jesus prayed “with strong crying and tears” and “was heard.”
Is it normal to cry during prayer?
Yes. Crying while praying is a common experience, and the Bible never presents it as weakness or a sign of spiritual trouble. Hebrews 5:7 describes Jesus praying with loud cries and tears, and Romans 8:26 describes the Holy Spirit praying for believers “with groanings which cannot be uttered” when they do not know what to pray. If crying becomes constant and heaviness does not lift outside of prayer, talking with a trusted person or a health professional is wise.
Did Jesus cry when he prayed?
Yes. Hebrews 5:7 says that “in the days of his flesh” Jesus “offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared.” It is the only verse in the Bible that describes Jesus’s prayers as coming with tears. The Gospel accounts of Gethsemane record his sorrow but do not mention tears. The Gospels also record Jesus weeping at the grave of Lazarus (John 11:35) and over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41).
What does Hebrews 5:7 mean?
Hebrews 5:7 says Jesus prayed with “strong crying and tears” to the One able to save him from death, and was heard because of his reverence. The Greek word behind the King James Version’s “feared” is eulabeia, which means reverence. The verse sits inside a passage (Hebrews 4:14 to 5:10) arguing that Jesus is a high priest who can sympathise with human weakness because he experienced it. Jesus still died on the cross, so “heard” does not mean he was spared suffering; many readers connect the answer to his resurrection.
What does “groanings which cannot be uttered” mean in Romans 8:26?
Romans 8:26 says: “the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” The apostle Paul is describing moments when a person cannot find words to pray. The verse teaches that the Holy Spirit intercedes on the believer’s behalf in those moments, so prayer without words is not a failed prayer.
