To say grace, pause before you eat, thank God for the food and the people who made it, ask Him to bless the meal, and say amen. It can be one sentence or a few, said aloud by one person or quietly on your own.
A grace you can use tonight:
Lord, thank You for this food and for the hands that made it. Bless our meal and our time together, and help us remember those who are hungry. In Jesus' name, amen.
For one-line prayers for other moments in the day, see our short prayers.
A prayer before eating, often called grace or a blessing, is a short prayer that thanks God for the food in front of you and asks Him to bless it. Christians do it because Jesus gave thanks over food, and because Scripture treats food as God's gift (the passages are in the next section). It does not need special words. A child's "Thank You, God, for my food" is a real grace.
The Gospels show Jesus giving thanks over food more than once, each time in a real setting. A crowd of about five thousand had followed Him to a remote place with nothing to eat, and the only food on hand was a boy's five barley loaves and two small fish (John 6:9). John 6:11 (KJV): "And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would." Matthew tells the same event and says "he blessed" (Matthew 14:19, KJV). He gave thanks again before feeding four thousand (Mark 8:6).
On the night He was betrayed, at the Passover meal with His disciples, Jesus gave thanks for the bread before giving it to them as His body. Luke 22:19 (KJV): "And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me." That meal is the Lord's Supper, so it is much more than a table grace, but the thanks comes first there too. After He rose, two disciples walking to the village of Emmaus (Luke 24:13) urged Him to stay with them because it was nearly evening (Luke 24:29). Luke 24:30 (KJV): "And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them." Then they recognized Him (Luke 24:31).
Paul did the same on a ship caught in a storm. The 276 people on board had gone fourteen days without eating (Acts 27:33, 37). He urged them to eat, and Acts 27:35 (KJV): "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."
Paul also wrote about food to Timothy, who was leading the church in Ephesus (1 Timothy 1:3). Some teachers there were "commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth" (1 Timothy 4:3, KJV). Paul answered that food is God's good gift. 1 Timothy 4:4-5 (KJV): "For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer." "Creature" here means anything God made, food included. Paul's point is that God's people can eat with a clear conscience when they receive food with thanks. He was not saying that prayer makes food healthier, and saying grace does not promise that a meal will keep anyone well.
Moses told Israel to bless God after the meal too, once they had eaten and were full. Deuteronomy 8:10 (KJV): "When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee." If your family wants to give thanks after eating as well, see our prayer after meals.
These two short graces are printed under "Grace before Meat" in the Family Prayer section of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer used in the Episcopal Church in the United States. "Meat" there means food in general.
Bless, O Father, thy gifts to our use and us to thy service; for Christ's sake. Amen.
Give us grateful hearts, our Father, for all thy mercies, and make us mindful of the needs of others; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Public domain (US): The Book of Common Prayer (Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A., 1928), Family Prayer, "Grace before Meat". Text checked against the justus.anglican.org transcription.
(From the prayer Jesus taught His disciples, Matthew 6:9-13.)
("Meat" in the KJV means food in general.)
On Thanksgiving Day, our prayer of thanksgiving page has a short table grace and a longer prayer for the whole family.
Jesus said this to people anxious about food and clothing, and told them to seek God's kingdom first (Matthew 6:33).
Let each child say one line, or add one thing they are thankful for before the amen. In John's account of the feeding of the five thousand, the bread and fish came from a boy in the crowd (John 6:9).
The one who came back was a Samaritan (Luke 17:16).
For when you don't know what to pray: a personal prayer for what you're facing, rooted in Scripture, with the verses it draws on. Get Prayer Copilot on the App Store
Starting a habit of praying before meals might feel awkward at first, especially if it's new to your family or if you eat alone. Begin small. A single sentence of thanks is a real prayer. Pause for three seconds of silence before eating, a moment of acknowledgment that this food is a gift. Choose one mealtime where you'll be more intentional, like dinner, rather than trying to pray before every single meal when you're exhausted and rushed.
With family, mealtime prayer can become a cherished tradition. Children look forward to it. It becomes a marker of home and belonging. You might rotate who leads the prayer, giving each family member a chance to express gratitude in their own words. You might use different prayers for different meals or occasions. Aim for honest thanks, not a perfect script. For more ways to pray for the people at your table, see our prayer for family.
If you have guests, the host usually decides. A short grace works best: you can say, "We usually thank God before we eat. You're welcome to join us," and keep it to a sentence or two. If you eat with people who don't pray, or in a restaurant or cafeteria, a quiet prayer of thanks is still grace. It is between you and God, not a performance for anyone watching.
Praying before every meal is not a biblical requirement. There's no commandment that says you must. However, the practice of giving thanks is deeply biblical and spiritually meaningful. Jesus gave thanks before meals (Matthew 14:19, Luke 22:19), modeling this as a natural spiritual discipline. The practice of saying grace teaches us gratitude, acknowledges God as the source of provision, and transforms eating from a thoughtless habit into a deliberate act of worship. If formal prayers feel cumbersome for every meal, even a few moments of silent acknowledgment counts. The important thing is not the ritual but the reality of recognizing God's care and our dependence on Him. Some seasons of life (young children, family meals) make shared prayer more natural, while other times you might offer a brief silent thanksgiving. The form matters less than the genuine attitude of gratitude.
Teaching children to pray before meals works best through example and participation rather than instruction. Pray aloud at family meals so children hear what gratitude sounds like. Keep it simple and short at first, children lose attention in lengthy prayers. Let them help lead: a young child can say "thank you God," and as they grow, they can expand. Make it a routine they expect, like washing hands before eating. Ask them to add their own thanksgivings: "What are you thankful for today?" This helps them engage genuinely rather than reciting words by rote. Use different prayers occasionally to keep it fresh. Let them learn that prayer before eating is normal and natural, not awkward or burdensome. If they resist or seem bored, examine whether your prayer is genuinely meaningful or has become mere habit. Children sense the difference. When grace is prayed with real thankfulness and kept brief, children naturally adopt it as part of their own faith.
Here are several short prayers suitable for daily use: "Thank You, God, for this food. Bless those who prepared it and all those who will eat it. Amen." Or: "Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest. Let these gifts to us be blessed. Amen." (a traditional prayer). Or: "Thank You for this day, this food, this family. Amen." The classic formula is simple and timeless: "God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food. Amen." Another favorite: "Father, thank You for this meal and for Your provision. Help us remember those who hunger, and give us grateful hearts. Amen." Short prayers work because they're easy to remember and can be prayed genuinely rather than recited mechanically. You can also teach a mealtime prayer that lets children fill in blanks: "Thank You, God, for _____ (food), and for _____ (something else to be thankful for). Amen." This combines structure with personal engagement.