Where in the Bible Does It Say 'Ask and You Shall Receive'?

The exact phrase 'ask and you shall receive' doesn't appear in the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), so Judaism doesn't have a direct counterpart verse. That said, the concept of petitionary prayer being heard by God is deeply embedded in Jewish scripture and practice.

Psalm 61, for instance, affirms that God hears the vows and requests of those who fear His name Psalms 61:6. King Solomon's dedication prayer at the Temple in 1 Kings 8 explicitly asks God to grant whatever a petitioner requests — and notably extends this even to foreigners who pray toward the Temple 1 Kings 8:43. This is a remarkably expansive theology of answered prayer.

Rabbinic tradition (the Talmud, compiled c. 200–500 CE) developed this further through the concept of tefillah (prayer), emphasizing that God is always accessible. Maimonides, writing in the 12th century, argued in the Mishneh Torah that prayer is a positive commandment precisely because God responds to human need. There's genuine rabbinic debate, though, about whether prayer changes outcomes or primarily changes the person praying — a tension that remains alive in modern Jewish thought.

This is squarely a Christian New Testament question. The phrase 'ask and you shall receive' appears most directly in Matthew 7:7–8, part of Jesus's Sermon on the Mount Matthew 7:7Matthew 7:8. A second key passage is Matthew 21:22, spoken after the cursing of the fig tree, where Jesus ties answered prayer explicitly to faith Matthew 21:22.

Matthew 7:7 presents a famous three-part parallelism — ask/seek/knock — each paired with a promised result: receiving, finding, and an opened door Matthew 7:7. Verse 8 then universalizes it: every one who asks receives Matthew 7:8. Matthew 21:22 adds the condition of belief Matthew 21:22.

Theologians have long wrestled with what these promises actually guarantee. John Calvin (16th century) argued the promises are conditional on prayers aligned with God's will. More recent scholars like D.A. Carson note the context in Matthew 7 is about persistence and trust in a good Father, not a blank check. Prosperity gospel movements, by contrast, read these verses as literal material promises — a reading most mainstream Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox theologians reject.

Other parallel passages include Luke 11:9–10, John 14:13–14, and James 4:3 (which qualifies that wrong motives can block answers). So the 'ask and receive' promise is widespread in the New Testament but consistently qualified by faith, persistence, and alignment with God's purposes.

The Quran doesn't contain the exact phrase 'ask and you shall receive,' so this is primarily a Christian scriptural question. However, Islam does have a rich theology of du'a (supplication) that parallels the concept closely enough to be worth addressing.

Quran 55:29 states that every creature in the heavens and earth asks of Allah, and He is constantly engaged in responding to those needs Quran 55:29. Quran 2:186 (not in the retrieved passages but widely cited) says 'I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me' — one of the most direct divine promises of responsiveness in Islamic scripture. The story of Zechariah in Quran 3:38 illustrates this: he called upon his Lord and was heard, receiving the gift of a son (John the Baptist) in his old age Quran 3:38.

Classical scholars like Ibn al-Qayyim (14th century) wrote extensively on du'a, noting that Allah always responds — but sometimes by granting the request, sometimes by averting harm, and sometimes by reserving the reward for the afterlife. This nuanced view of 'answered prayer' actually parallels mainstream Christian and Jewish interpretations more than the prosperity-gospel reading does.

While the exact phrase “ask and you shall receive” isn’t a formula in the Hebrew Bible, it repeatedly portrays God hearing prayer and granting requests; Solomon asks God to “grant all that the foreigner asks You for” (1 Kings 8:43) 1 Kings 8:43. Jeremiah promises to pray and report God’s answer, highlighting expectation of a divine response (Jeremiah 42:4) Jeremiah 42:4. The Psalms voice petitions and affirm that God hears and grants requests from those who fear His name (Psalm 61:6) Psalms 61:6. Readers sometimes note that these passages underscore both divine responsiveness and reverence or faith as fitting attitudes in petitionary prayer, though interpreters differ on how unconditional the granting is and point to contextual qualifiers within each prayer 1 Kings 8:43Jeremiah 42:4Psalms 61:6.

The phrase is explicitly stated by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matthew 7:7 KJV) Matthew 7:7. The next verse reinforces it: “For every one that asketh receiveth...” (Matthew 7:8 KJV) Matthew 7:8. Elsewhere Jesus adds a condition: “all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive” (Matthew 21:22 KJV), which many readers take as clarifying that trust in God is integral to petitionary prayer Matthew 21:22. Some Christian interpreters read these as generous promises tempered by faith and divine wisdom, while others stress the literal scope of “all things”—the debate hinges in part on the immediate contexts of Matthew 7 and 21 Matthew 7:7Matthew 7:8Matthew 21:22.

Not applicable. Concerns Biblical scripture; no direct counterpart is required for answering where this appears in the Bible.