Mǎtaìfúyīn 6:7

7 Nǐmen dǎogào , bùkĕ xiàng waìbāngrén , yòng xǔduō chóngfù huà . tāmen yǐwéi huà duō le bì méng chuí tīng .

Mǎtaìfúyīn 6:7 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 6:7

But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions
Saying the same things over and over again,

as the Heathens do,
as the worshippers of Baal, from morning till noon, ( 1 Kings 18:26 ) . This our Lord observes, to dissuade from such practices, because the Gentiles, who were odious to the Jews, used them, and the Jews were guilty of the same; had they not, there would not have been any need of such advice:

for they think they shall be heard for their much speaking;
as did the Jews, who, under pretence of "long prayers", devoured widows' houses; and with whom it is an axiom, that "everyone (hnen hlyptb) (hbrmh) , that multiplies prayer is heard" ^F8; and whoever prolongs his prayer, his prayer does not return empty; and he that is long in prayer, his days are prolonged ^F9: and, according to their canons, every day a man ought to pray eighteen prayers. Moreover, their prayer books abound in tautologies, and in expressing the same things in different words, and by a multiplicity of them.

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 T. Hieros. Taaniot, fol. 67. 3.
F9 Zohar in Exod. fol. 104. 4.

Mǎtaìfúyīn 6:7 In-Context

5 Nǐmen dǎogào de shíhou , bùkĕ xiàng nà jiǎmàowéishànderén , aì zhàn zaì gōngtáng lǐ , hé shízìlùkǒu shàng dǎogào , gùyì jiào rén kànjian . wǒ shízaì gàosu nǐmen , tāmen yǐjing dé le tāmende shǎngcì .

6 Nǐ dǎogào de shíhou , yào jìn nǐde neì wū , guān shang mén , dǎogào nǐ zaì ànzhōng de fù , nǐ fù zaì ànzhōng chákàn , bìrán bàodá nǐ .

7 Nǐmen dǎogào , bùkĕ xiàng waìbāngrén , yòng xǔduō chóngfù huà . tāmen yǐwéi huà duō le bì méng chuí tīng .

8 Nǐmen bùkĕ xiàofǎ tāmen . yīnwei nǐmen méiyǒu qíqiú yǐ xiān , nǐmen suǒ xū yòng de , nǐmen de fù zǎo yǐ zhīdào le .

9 Suǒyǐ nǐmen dǎogào , yào zhèyàng shuō , wǒmen zaì tiān shang de fù , yuàn rén dōu zūn nǐde míng wéi shèng .