Luke 11:1

Instructions on Prayer

11:1 Now ¹  Jesus ²  was praying in a certain place. When ³  he stopped, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John ⁴  taught ⁵  his disciples.”

Luke 20:47

20:47 They ⁶  devour ⁷  widows’ property, ⁸  and as a show make long prayers. They will receive a more severe punishment.”

Proverbs 28:9

28:9 The one who turns away his ear ⁹  from hearing the law,

even his prayer ¹⁰  is an abomination. ¹¹ 

Isaiah 1:15

1:15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,

I look the other way; ¹² 

when you offer your many prayers,

I do not listen,

because your hands are covered with blood. ¹³ 

Matthew 6:5-6

Private Prayer

6:5 “Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray while standing in synagogues ¹⁴  and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say to you, they have their reward. 6:6 But whenever you pray, go into your room, ¹⁵  close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you. ¹⁶ 

Matthew 23:14

23:14 [[EMPTY]] ¹⁷ 

Mark 12:40

12:40 They ¹⁸  devour widows’ property, ¹⁹  and as a show make long prayers. These men will receive a more severe punishment.”

Acts 9:11

9:11 Then the Lord told him, “Get up and go to the street called ‘Straight,’ ²⁰  and at Judas’ house look for a man from Tarsus named Saul. For he is praying,

Romans 10:2-3

10:2 For I can testify that they are zealous for God, ²¹  but their zeal is not in line with the truth. ²²  10:3 For ignoring the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking instead to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

[11:1]  ¹ tn Grk “And it happened that while.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated. Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[11:1]  ² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:1]  ³ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[11:1]  ⁴ sn John refers to John the Baptist.

[11:1]  ⁵ sn It was not unusual for Jewish groups to have their own prayer as a way of expressing corporate identity. Judaism had the Eighteen Benedictions and apparently John the Baptist had a prayer for his disciples as well.

[20:47]  ⁶ tn Grk “who,” continuing the sentence begun in v. 46.

[20:47]  ⁷ sn How they were able to devour widows’ houses is debated. Did they seek too much for contributions, or take too high a commission for their work, or take homes after debts failed to be paid? There is too little said here to be sure.

[20:47]  ⁸ tn Grk “houses,” “households”; however, the term can have the force of “property” or “possessions” as well (O. Michel, TDNT 5:131; BDAG 695 s.v. οἶκια 1.a).

[28:9]  ⁹ sn The expression “turn away the ear from hearing” uses a metonymy to mean that this individual will not listen – it indicates a deliberate refusal to follow the instruction of the law.

[28:9]  ¹⁰ sn It is hard to imagine how someone who willfully refuses to obey the law of God would pray according to the will of God. Such a person is more apt to pray for some physical thing or make demands on God. (Of course a prayer of repentance would be an exception and would not be an abomination to the Lord.)

[28:9]  ¹¹ sn C. H. Toy says, “If a man, on his part, is deaf to instruction, then God, on his part, is deaf to prayer” (Proverbs [ICC], 499). And W. McKane observes that one who fails to attend to God’s law is a wicked person, even if he is a man of prayer (Proverbs [OTL], 623).

[1:15]  ¹² tn Heb “I close my eyes from you.”

[1:15]  ¹³ sn This does not just refer to the blood of sacrificial animals, but also the blood, as it were, of their innocent victims. By depriving the poor and destitute of proper legal recourse and adequate access to the economic system, the oppressors have, for all intents and purposes, “killed” their victims.

[6:5]  ¹⁴ sn See the note on synagogues in 4:23.

[6:6]  ¹⁵ sn The term translated room refers to the inner room of a house, normally without any windows opening outside, the most private location possible (BDAG 988 s.v. ταμεῖον 2).

[6:6]  ¹⁶ tc See the tc note on “will reward you” in 6:4: The problem is the same and the ms support differs only slightly.

[23:14]  ¹⁷ tc The most important mss (א B D L Z Θ Ë¹ 33 892* pc and several versional witnesses) do not have 23:14 “Woe to you experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You devour widows’ property, and as a show you pray long prayers! Therefore you will receive a more severe punishment.” Part or all of the verse is contained (either after v. 12 or after v. 13) in W 0102 0107 ˹³ Ï and several versions, but it is almost certainly not original. The present translation follows NA²⁷ in omitting the verse number as well, a procedure also followed by a number of other modern translations. Note also that Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47 are very similar in wording and are not disputed textually.

[12:40]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “who,” continuing the sentence begun in v. 38.

[12:40]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “houses,” “households”; however, the term can have the force of “property” or “possessions” as well (O. Michel, TDNT 5:131; BDAG 695 s.v. οἶκια 1.a).

[9:11]  ²⁰ sn The noting of the detail of the locale, ironically called ‘Straight’ Street, shows how directive and specific the Lord was.

[10:2]  ²¹ tn Grk “they have a zeal for God.”

[10:2]  ²² tn Grk “in accord with knowledge.”