Prayer is one of the most fundamental tools God gives believers to confront antisemitism.
When believers pray against antisemitism, they are standing in agreement with God’s Word—His promises, His covenants, and His redemptive plan for humanity—addressing the issue at its deepest level.
Antisemitism has brought centuries of suffering and anguish to the Jewish people and targeted God’s people with a unique and relentless hostility. Yet beneath its social and political expressions lies a deeper spiritual reality. Antisemitism is not only a human prejudice but a manifestation of the enemy’s opposition to God’s purposes. To confront this worldly evil faithfully, believers must recognize its spiritual reality. As Ephesians 6:12 points out, the “struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
That’s why praying against antisemitism is not optional but a gospel imperative. Every form of antisemitism—whether slander, prejudice, propaganda, or physical violence—originates from resistance to God’s plan of salvation and His faithfulness to His people.
That said, here’s how believers can pray in light of antisemitism.
Pray for the Jewish People
In Psalm 122:6–9, David exhorts believers to:
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you. May peace be within your walls, and prosperity within your palaces.” For the sake of my brothers and my friends, I will now say, “May peace be within you.” For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.
As another Coalition Against Antisemitism article notes, “. . . praying for the peace of Jerusalem is not political posturing but prophetic hope. Praying for the peace of Jerusalem is a longing for the shalom—wholeness and restoration—of the Jewish people and the physical region of Israel, including all its inhabitants.”
But the meaning of this prayer reaches even deeper. To pray for peace is to pray against its opposites: disorder, chaos, violence, and division. It is a prayer uniquely tied to the Jewish people—the historic and biblical people of the land—and yet not exclusively so.
Yes, praying for the peace of Jerusalem is a prayer on behalf of the Jewish people and against antisemitism, but it is also a prayer “for the sake of the house of the Lord our God” (Psalm 122:9). Its orientation reaches beyond the present moment toward God’s redemptive future.
As Jesus declared, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations” (Mark 11:17). To pray for the peace of Jerusalem, then, is to pray for all who dwell in the region—Jewish people, Muslims, Christians, and everyone else—asking that God’s kingdom would reign in every heart, Jewish and Gentile alike (Ephesians 2:11–22). Peace in Jerusalem points to the ultimate peace God desires for all nations.
Praying for the peace of Jerusalem is also a prayer of blessing. David declares, “May they prosper who love you” (Psalm 122:6). In other words, those who love what God loves share in His favor. There is a spiritual inheritance tied to those who bless His chosen people (Genesis 12:3), the nation through whom His plan of salvation came to all.
Ultimately, to pray for the peace and flourishing of Jerusalem—for the Jewish people, the land, and all who live within it—is to root our prayers in God’s righteous plan of redemption. It is to pray “for the sake of the house of the Lord our God” (Psalm 122:9), the same household and lineage from which Jesus came and through whom God has blessed the world (John 3:17).
Praying for the peace and flourishing of the Jewish people is a prayer aligned with God’s own redemptive will for the world.
Pray for the Antisemite
If believers are to pray against antisemitism, they must also pray for the antisemite.
In His infinite wisdom, God chose the descendants of Abraham to bring forth His plan of salvation, which was to bless the world through the Messiah, Jesus. Jesus came so that “whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). The life believers now live in the Messiah is a living reflection of His atoning work; it is a life of embodying peace and reconciliation in a broken world longing for a savior.
It is sobering to consider the judgment of those who reject what God loves. Hatred of the Jewish people in any form is incompatible with the gospel. To hate the people through whom God chose to bring salvation is to direct hatred toward God’s own redemptive plan.
When believers pray against antisemitism, they pray against the physical suffering, anguish, and hatred that Jewish people endure. They ask for protection and justice for wrongs committed against God’s people. But ultimately, believers are praying in agreement with God’s redemptive plan—that His salvation, and eventually, complete and total restoration, would reach to the ends of the earth through faith in Jesus the Messiah. This includes the antisemite, too.
A Prayer Against Antisemitism
The following prayer is offered as a guide, or even as a script, for believers who wish to pray against antisemitism.
God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob,
From the very beginning, You have made a way for humanity to be reconciled to You. Through the line of David, Jesus came forth—a willing and obedient servant in Israel’s footsteps—to bring salvation to the world so that all might be restored to You.
Thank You for Your Son, Jesus. Thank You for the eternal life You have given through His sacrifice.
Lord, I know Your plan of salvation has faced resistance since the beginning, as the enemy has sought to disrupt Your work of redemption. One of his ugliest schemes is antisemitism—a targeted and desperate attempt to destroy the very line through which salvation entered the world.
Father, I now stand in full agreement with Your Word and in the power and authority of Jesus the Messiah, the Prince of Peace, to whom all authority in heaven and on earth has been given (Matthew 28:18).
I stand with the Jewish people against all forms of prejudice, hatred, and violence. As David prayed, I pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and for the well-being of the Jewish people and for all who dwell in the land. I ask for Your supernatural protection over Jewish people who face not only earthly opposition, but spiritual forces of darkness (Ephesians 6:12).
Lord, I also pray for the antisemite—for those whose hearts are hardened by hatred toward the Jewish people. May they come to love those whom You love. I ask that Your Son, Jesus, would speak to their hearts and draw them into repentance and reconciliation, just as He does for all who believe—Jewish and Gentile people alike.
And so, God of peace, I pray that You would bring healing where there is hatred, light where there is darkness, and faith where there is fear. May Your name be glorified in Jerusalem, in Israel, and to the ends of the earth.
In the name of Jesus the Messiah, the Prince of Peace and the coming King of Kings, amen.
