In 1^st Chronicles 4:10 and 11, there is mentioned a man named Jabez, whose only claim to Biblical fame is that he is recorded as having uttered a famous prayer, which is quoted as "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." And the passage goes on to say that God granted his request.

Sometimes much can be said in few words, and such is the case with the prayer of Jabez. He prays for the fullness of God’s blessings. He prays that God enlarge his territory (in the modern day "territory" might be translated to be your business, a promotion at your job, your ministry, or your influence), that God would be always with him, that He would keep him from evil (that he would follow the Lord), and that he would not sin against his fellow man. All of this in only 32 words! The prayer of Jabez thus becomes an excellent illustration of the fact that prayers need not be "thee and thou" productions, spoken in words and in a pious or religious voice otherwise unfamiliar to us. We are not praying to impress God, and Heaven forbid that we pray to impress others. Jabez certainly did not have in mind impressing anyone when he uttered this simple little prayer. No, he came to the Lord humbly and in submission, asking God to bless him and to keep him from harm and from sin. And God answered his prayer.