Matthew 6:7

Bishops' Bible (1568)

But when ye pray, babble not much, as the heathen do. For they thynke it wyl come to passe, that they shalbe heard, for theyr much bablinges sake.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

Προσευχόμενοι δὲ, μὴ βαττολογήσητε, ὥσπερ οἱ ἐθνικοί: δοκοῦσιν γὰρ ὅτι ἐν τῇ πολυλογίᾳ αὐτῶν εἰσακουσθήσονται.

Transliteration

Proseuchomenoi de, mē battologēsēte, hōsper the ethnikoi: dokousin gar hoti in the polylogia of them eisakousthēsontai.

Grammar Details

• *Proseuchomenoi de*: present middle participle, nominative, masculine, plural + contrastive particle - but praying
• *mē battologēsēte*: negative particle + aorist subjunctive, 2nd plural - do not use vain repetitions
• *hōsper*: comparative adverb - just as/like
• *ethnikoi*: nominative, masculine, plural - Gentiles/pagans/heathens
• *dokousin gar hoti*: present active indicative, 3rd plural + causal conjunction + declarative conjunction - for they think that
• *polylogia*: dative, feminine, singular - much speaking/wordiness
• *eisakousthēsontai*: future passive indicative, 3rd plural - they will be heard/listened to

Word Meanings

• *Proseuchomenoi*: praying/when praying/as you pray
• *battologēsēte*: use vain repetitions/babble/speak meaninglessly
• *ethnikoi*: Gentiles/pagans/non-Jews/heathens
• *dokousin*: think/suppose/believe
• *polylogia*: much speaking/wordiness/verbosity
• *eisakousthēsontai*: will be heard/will be listened to/will have their request granted

Referenced Verses

• Eccl 5:2-3 : 2 Be not hastye with thy mouth, and let not thine heart speake any thyng rashly before God: For God is in heauen, and thou vpon earth, therfore let thy wordes be fewe. 3 For where much carefulnesse is, there are many dreames: and where many wordes are, there men may heare fooles.
• Eccl 5:7 : 7 And why? wheras are many dreames and many wordes, there are also diuers vanities: but loke that thou feare God.
• 1 Kgs 18:26-29 : 26 And they toke the one oxe that he dyd geue them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning to noone, saying, O Baal heare vs. But there was no voyce, nor one to aunswere: And they lept vpon the aulter that they had made. 27 And at noone Elias mocked them, and sayde: Crye lowde, for he is a God, peraduenture he is talking, or occupied in folowing vpon his enemies, or is in his iourney, or happyly he slepeth, and must be awaked with your crie. 28 And they cried lowde, and cut them selues as their maner was with kniues & launcers, till the blood folowed on the. 29 And it chaunced, that when midday was passed, they prophesied vntill the time of the euening sacrifice: But there was neither voyce, nor one to aunswere, nor any that regarded them.
• Matt 26:44 : 44 And he left them, and went agayne, and prayed the thirde tyme, saying the same wordes.
• 1 Kgs 8:26-54 : 26 And now O God of Israel, let thy word be verified which thou spakest vnto thy seruaunt Dauid my father. 27 Wyll God in deede dwell on the earth? Beholde, the heauens and heauens of all heauens are not able to contayne thee: and how should then this house do it that I haue builded? 28 Haue thou therefore respect vnto the prayer of thy seruaunt, and to his supplication O Lorde my God, to heare the crye and prayer which thy seruaunt prayeth before thee this day: 29 That thyne eyes may be open toward this house nyght and day, euen toward this place, of which thou haste said, My name shal be there: That thou mayst hearken vnto the prayer which thy seruaunt prayeth in this place, 30 And regarde thou the supplication of thy seruaunt and of thy people Israel when they pray in this place: and heare thou in heauen thy dwelling place, and when thou hearest haue mercy. 31 If any man trespasse against his neyghbour, & there go an oth betweene them, and the one compel the other, and come, swearing before thyne aulter in this house: 32 Then hearken thou in heauen, and do and iudge thy seruauntes, that thou condemne the vngodly, to bring his way vpon his head: and iustifie the righteous, to geue him according to his righteousnesse. 33 When thy people Israel be put to the worse before the enemie, because they haue sinned against thee, & afterwarde turne againe to thee, and knowledge vnto thy name, and pray and make supplication vnto thee in this house: 34 Then heare thou in heauen, to be mercifull vnto the sinne of thy people Israel, and bring them againe vnto the land which thou gauest vnto their fathers. 35 If heauen be shut vp, and there be no rayne, because they haue sinned against thee: yet if they pray in this place, and knowledge vnto thy name, and turne from their sinne through thy scourging of them: 36 Then heare thou in heauen, and be mercyfull vnto the sinnes of thy seruauntes, and of thy people Israel, that thou shewe them a good way to walke in, and geue rayne vpon the lande that thou hast geuen to thy people to inherite. 37 If there be in the lande dearth, or pestilence, drouth, blasting, grashopper, or caterpiller: or if their enemie besiege the in the lande of their cities, or whatsoeuer plague or sickenesse chaunce, 38 Then what prayers and supplication soeuer be made of any man, of all thy people Israel, which shall knowledge euery man the plague of his owne heart, and stretch foorth his handes toward this house: 39 Heare thou then in heauen, euen in thy dwelling place, and be mercyfull, and do and geue euery man according to his wayes, euen as thou that onely knowest his heart (for thou onely knowest the heartes of all the children of men:) 40 That they may feare thee as long as they lyue in the lande which thou gauest vnto our fathers. 41 And likewyse if a straunger that is not of thy people Israel, come out of a farre countrey for thy names sake: 42 (For they shal heare of thy great name, and of thy mightie hand, & of thy stretched out arme) and shall come and pray in this house: 43 Therfore heare thou in heauen thy dwelling place, & do all that the straunger calleth to thee for: that all nations of the earth may knowe thy name, and feare thee as do thy people Israel, and that they may knowe that thy name is called vpon in this house which I haue builded. 44 If thy people go out to battell against their enemie whythersoeuer thou shalt send them, and shal pray vnto the Lord toward the way of the citie which thou hast chosen, and toward the house that I haue built for thy name: 45 Heare thou in heauen their prayer and supplication, and iudge their cause. 46 If they sinne against thee (for there is no man that sinneth not) & thou be angry with them, and delyuer them into the hand of their enemies, so that they cary them away prisoners, vnto the lande of their enemies whether farre or neare: 47 Yet if they turne againe vnto their heartes in the lande of them that caryed them away captiues, & returne and pray vnto thee in the lande of their enemies, saying, we haue sinned, we haue done wickely, and haue committed vngodlynesse: 48 And so turne agayne vnto thee with all their heart and all their soule in the lande of their enemies which led them away captiue, and pray vnto thee, toward the way of their land which thou gauest vnto their fathers, and toward the citie which thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I haue built for thy name: 49 Then heare thou their prayer and supplication in heauen thy dwellyng place, and iudge their cause: 50 And be mercyfull vnto thy people that haue sinned against thee, and vnto all their iniquities wherby they haue done wickedly against thee, & get thou them the fauour of those whiche led them away captiue, that they may haue compassion on them. 51 For they be thy people, and thyne inheritaunce, whiche thou broughtest out of Egypt, euen from the middest of the fornace of iron. 52 And let thyne eyes be open vnto the prayer of thy seruaunt, and vnto the prayer of thy people Israel, to hearken vnto them in all that they call for vnto thee. 53 For thou dyddest seperate them from among all the nations of the earth to be thyne owne inheritaunce, as thou saydest by the hande of Moyses thy seruaunt, when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt O Lorde God. 54 And when Solomon had made an ende of praying all this prayer and supplication vnto the Lorde, he arose from before the aulter of the Lorde, & from kneling on his knees, & from stretching of his handes vp to heauen,
• Matt 26:39 : 39 And he went a litle farther, and fell flat on his face, and prayed, saying: O my father, if it be possible, let this cuppe passe from me: Neuerthelesse, not as I wyll, but as thou wylt.
• Matt 26:42 : 42 He went away once againe, & prayed, saying: O my father, if this cuppe may not passe away fro me, except I drinke it, thy wyll be fulfylled.
• Dan 9:18-19 : 18 O my God, encline thyne eare & hearken, open thyne eyes, beholde howe we be desolated, yea and the citie also which is called after thy name: for we do not present our prayers before thee in our owne righteousnes, but in thy great mercies. 19 O Lorde heare, O forgeue Lorde, O Lorde consider and do it, defer not, for thyne owne sake O my God: because thy name is called vpon thy citie, & vpon thy people.
• Matt 6:32 : 32 (For after all these thynges, do the Gentiles seke:) for your heauenly father knoweth, that ye haue nede of all these thynges.
• Matt 18:17 : 17 If he heare not them, tell it vnto the Churche: If he heare not the Churche, let hym be vnto thee as an Heathen man, and a publicane.
• Acts 19:34 : 34 But when they knewe that he was a Iewe, there arose a shoute almost for the space of two houres, of all men, crying: great is Diana of the Ephesians.