A Before-Dinner Prayer

Praying before we eat our dinner has been the practice of Christians since the time of the early church. We thank God in our prayers for providing us with something to eat. 

Here is a brief prayer you can pray before you eat your dinner:

Heavenly Father, thank You for providing me with something to eat tonight. Bless the hands that prepared this food, and may it give my body energy and nourishment. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

Does the Bible say to pray before you eat?

Yes. In the Bible, there are several instances where people gave thanks before a meal. In the Gospel accounts, we saw Jesus giving thanks before a meal on several occasions. At the last supper, it is written that Jesus gave thanks before He offered the cup and broke the bread (Luke 22:14-20)

And when the hour came, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and broke it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.”

Jesus also gave thanks when He fed the 5,000 men, when He fed the crowd of 4,000, and when He ate with two men on their way to Emmaus after His resurrection. The apostle Paul was also recorded as giving thanks before a meal in Acts 27:35. 

Matthew 14:19–21

19 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.

20 And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.

21 And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.

Matthew 15:34–36

34 And Jesus saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven, and a few little fishes.

35 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.

36 And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.

Luke 24:30

And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.

Acts 27:35

And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all: and when he had broken it, he began to eat.

In the Old Testament, Israelites are commanded to remember the LORD in Deuteronomy 8. They were told they ought to remember everything that God did for them. One of those gifts is the manna that God provided Israel so they would have something to eat. It may not be giving thanks, but it is still the same in the sense that you are remembering how gracious God was, which, therefore, still leads to humbling yourself before God and giving thanks. 

We follow the examples in the Bible of giving thanks to God—not because it is what they did but because we understand what’s in the heart, which is gratitude toward God.

Do you have to say grace before meals?

Yes, we do have to say grace before meals. But we have to clarify that “grace” here is not just saying the word “grace” and then eating, as some people do. Instead, what you do before eating your dinner is thank God for His grace, since what you are about to eat is a provision that came from Him. It is also important to remember that we pray before meals because we want to thank God from the heart, not just because it is a tradition that people have followed for ages. 

Ephesians 5:20

Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

What prayer do you say before dinner?

Heavenly Father, I thank You for the food we are about to eat. I thank You because You are always faithful to provide. We are grateful for Your grace and mercy because the food on our table is here only because of Your grace. May we enjoy the fellowship that we are about to have over dinner. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

You can also pray for other things besides the food. You can thank God for the provision He gave for your or your family member’s tuition fee or any other acts of grace that God did for you and your loved ones. 

Here is a prayer guide you can use as you thank God before dinner:

Thank You, Father, for all the blessings You have given us. We thank You for providing the needs of [name of a loved one]. We also thank You for the things that we accomplished today by Your grace. As we eat, we also thank You for providing us with the food we have. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

Romans 11:36

For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

Praying before dinner and thanking God – not just for providing us with something to eat but for everything He has done for us – is an act of humility before God. Everything that we have comes from the Lord, and everything that He has provided us is here only because of His grace toward us. Without God, we have nothing; even the job that allows us to receive the income to buy our food also comes from the Lord.