Matthew 6:7

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

When you pray, do not babble repetitiously like the Gentiles, because they think that by their many words they will be heard.

📖 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 (5:1) Do not be rash with your mouth or hasty in your heart to bring up a matter before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth! Therefore, let your words be few. 3 Just as dreams come when there are many cares, so the rash vow of a fool occurs when there are many words.
• Eccl 5:7 : 7 Just as there is futility in many dreams, so also in many words. Therefore, fear God!
• 1 Kgs 18:26-29 : 26 So they took a bull, as he had suggested, and prepared it. They invoked the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying,“Baal, answer us.” But there was no sound and no answer. They jumped around on the altar they had made. 27 At noon Elijah mocked them,“Yell louder! After all, he is a god; he may be deep in thought, or perhaps he stepped out for a moment or has taken a trip. Perhaps he is sleeping and needs to be awakened.” 28 So they yelled louder and, in accordance with their prescribed ritual, mutilated themselves with swords and spears until their bodies were covered with blood. 29 Throughout the afternoon they were in an ecstatic frenzy, but there was no sound, no answer, and no response.
• Matt 26:44 : 44 So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same thing once more.
• 1 Kgs 8:26-54 : 26 Now, O God of Israel, may the promise you made to your servant, my father David, be realized. 27 “God does not really live on the earth! Look, if the sky and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this temple I have built! 28 But respond favorably to your servant’s prayer and his request for help, O LORD my God. Answer the desperate prayer your servant is presenting to you today. 29 Night and day may you watch over this temple, the place where you promised you would live. May you answer your servant’s prayer for this place. 30 Respond to the request of your servant and your people Israel for this place. Hear from inside your heavenly dwelling place and respond favorably. 31 “When someone is accused of sinning against his neighbor and the latter pronounces a curse on the alleged offender before your altar in this temple, be willing to forgive the accused if the accusation is false. 32 Listen from heaven and make a just decision about your servants’ claims. Condemn the guilty party, declare the other innocent, and give both of them what they deserve. 33 “The time will come when your people Israel are defeated by an enemy because they sinned against you. If they come back to you, renew their allegiance to you, and pray for your help in this temple, 34 then listen from heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave to their ancestors. 35 “The time will come when the skies are shut up tightly and no rain falls because your people sinned against you. When they direct their prayers toward this place, renew their allegiance to you, and turn away from their sin because you punish them, 36 then listen from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Certainly you will then teach them the right way to live and send rain on your land that you have given your people to possess. 37 “The time will come when the land suffers from a famine, a plague, blight and disease, or a locust invasion, or when their enemy lays siege to the cities of the land, or when some other type of plague or epidemic occurs. 38 When all your people Israel pray and ask for help, as they acknowledge their pain and spread out their hands toward this temple, 39 then listen from your heavenly dwelling place, forgive their sin, and act favorably toward each one based on your evaluation of his motives.(Indeed you are the only one who can correctly evaluate the motives of all people.) 40 Then they will obey you throughout their lifetimes as they live on the land you gave to our ancestors. 41 “Foreigners, who do not belong to your people Israel, will come from a distant land because of your reputation. 42 When they hear about your great reputation and your ability to accomplish mighty deeds, they will come and direct their prayers toward this temple. 43 Then listen from your heavenly dwelling place and answer all the prayers of the foreigners. Then all the nations of the earth will acknowledge your reputation, obey you like your people Israel do, and recognize that this temple I built belongs to you. 44 “When you direct your people to march out and fight their enemies, and they direct their prayers to the LORD toward his chosen city and this temple I built for your honor, 45 then listen from heaven to their prayers for help and vindicate them. 46 “The time will come when your people will sin against you(for there is no one who is sinless!) and you will be angry with them and deliver them over to their enemies, who will take them as prisoners to their own land, whether far away or close by. 47 When your people come to their senses in the land where they are held prisoner, they will repent and beg for your mercy in the land of their imprisonment, admitting,‘We have sinned and gone astray; we have done evil.’ 48 When they return to you with all their heart and being in the land where they are held prisoner, and direct their prayers to you toward the land you gave to their ancestors, your chosen city, and the temple I built for your honor, 49 then listen from your heavenly dwelling place to their prayers for help and vindicate them. 50 Forgive all the rebellious acts of your sinful people and cause their captors to have mercy on them. 51 After all, they are your people and your special possession whom you brought out of Egypt, from the middle of the iron-smelting furnace. 52 “May you be attentive to your servant’s and your people Israel’s requests for help and may you respond to all their prayers to you. 53 After all, you picked them out of all the nations of the earth to be your special possession, just as you, O Sovereign LORD, announced through your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt.” 54 When Solomon finished presenting all these prayers and requests to the LORD, he got up from before the altar of the LORD where he had kneeled and spread out his hands toward the sky.
• Matt 26:39 : 39 Going a little farther, he threw himself down with his face to the ground and prayed,“My Father, if possible, let this cup pass from me! Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
• Matt 26:42 : 42 He went away a second time and prayed,“My Father, if this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will must be done.”
• Dan 9:18-19 : 18 Listen attentively, my God, and hear! Open your eyes and look on our desolated ruins and the city called by your name. For it is not because of our own righteous deeds that we are praying to you, but because your compassion is abundant. 19 O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, pay attention, and act! Don’t delay, for your own sake, O my God! For your city and your people are called by your name.”
• Matt 6:32 : 32 For the unconverted pursue these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
• Matt 18:17 : 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. If he refuses to listen to the church, treat him like a Gentile or a tax collector.
• Acts 19:34 : 34 But when they recognized that he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison,“Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” for about two hours.