the Week of Proper 6 / Ordinary 11
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THE MESSAGE
Matthew 6:6
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
- Nave'sDictionaries:
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- InternationalDevotionals:
- ChipParallel Translations
But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
But thou when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy doore, pray to thy father which is in secret, and thy father which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
"But as for you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
When you pray, you should go into your room and close the door and pray to your Father who cannot be seen. Your Father can see what is done in secret, and he will reward you.
"But when you pray, go into your most private room, close the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees [what is done] in secret will reward you.
But when thou prayest, enter into thy chamber and when thou hast shut thy doore, pray vnto thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret, shall rewarde thee openly.
"But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
But when you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
When you pray, go into a room alone and close the door. Pray to your Father in private. He knows what is done in private, and he will reward you.
But you, when you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. Your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
But *thou*, when thou prayest, enter into thy chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret, and thy Father who sees in secret will render [it] to thee.
But when you pray, you should go into your room and close the door. Then pray to your Father. He is there in that private place. He can see what is done in private, and he will reward you.
But you, when you pray, enter into your inner chamber, and lock your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret he himself shall reward you openly.
But when you pray, go to your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what you do in private, will reward you.
But whenever you pray, enter into your inner room and shut your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
But you, when you pray, enter into your room and shutting your door, pray to your Father in secret. And your Father seeing in secret will repay you in the open.
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thine inner chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret, and thy Father who seeth in secret shall recompense thee.
But when you make your prayer, go into your private room, and, shutting the door, say a prayer to your Father in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will give you your reward.
But you, when you pray, enter into your inner chamber, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
But whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.reward you openly">[fn]2 Kings 4:33;">[xr]
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy secret chamber, and shut thy door, and pray to thy Father who is in secret; and thy Father, who seeth in secret, shall reward thee in openness.
But thou, when thou prayest enter into thy closet and close the door, and pray to thy Father who is in secret; and thy Father, who seeth in secret, will reward thee openly.
But when thou prayest, enter into thy chaumber, and when thou hast shut thy dore, pray to thy father, which is in secrete, and thy father which seeth in secrete, shall rewarde thee openly.
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thine inner chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall recompense thee.
But you, when you pray, enter into your inner chamber, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret, and thy Father, who seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
But you, whenever you pray, go into your own room and shut the door: then pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father--He who sees in secret--will recompense you.
But whanne thou schalt preye, entre in to thi couche, and whanne the dore is schet, preye thi fadir in hidils, and thi fadir that seeth in hidils, schal yelde to thee.
But you, when you pray, enter into your inner chamber, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret shall recompense you.
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret, and thy Father who seeth in secret, will reward thee openly.
But whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.
But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. [fn]
But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.
When you pray, go into a room by yourself. After you have shut the door, pray to your Father Who is in secret. Then your Father Who sees in secret will reward you.
But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
But, thou, when thou wouldest pray, enter into thy closet, and, fastening thy door, pray unto thy Father who is in secret, - and, thy Father who seeth in secret, will reward thee.
But thou when thou shalt pray, enter into thy chamber, and having shut the door, pray to thy Father in secret, and thy father who seeth in secret will repay thee.
But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
But when thou prayest entre into thy chamber and shut thy dore to the and praye to thy father which ys in secrete: and thy father which seith in secret shall rewarde the openly.
`But thou, when thou mayest pray, go into thy chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who [is] in secret, and thy Father who is seeing in secret, shall reward thee manifestly.
But when thou prayest, entre in to thy chamber, and shut thy dore to the, & praye to thy father which is in secrete: and thy father which seith in secrete, shall rewarde the openly.
but you, when you pray, enter into your closet, and when you have shut the door, pray to your father who is with you in your retirement, and your father who observeth the actions of your retirement shall reward you.
But when you pray, head out to the barn where even the horses can't see you. Then the Boss, who sees and hears everything, will reward you.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
enter: Matthew 14:23, Matthew 26:36-39, Genesis 32:24-29, 2 Kings 4:33, Isaiah 26:20, John 1:48, Acts 9:40, Acts 10:9, Acts 10:30
pray: Psalms 34:15, Isaiah 65:24, John 20:17, Romans 8:5, Ephesians 3:14
Reciprocal: 2 Kings 4:4 - thou shalt shut 2 Kings 20:2 - he turned 2 Chronicles 15:7 - your work Psalms 19:11 - keeping Isaiah 38:2 - turned Matthew 6:1 - otherwise Matthew 6:4 - seeth Matthew 6:9 - Our Matthew 6:18 - shall Matthew 10:41 - a righteous man's Matthew 20:14 - thine Mark 6:46 - General Luke 5:33 - and make Luke 6:12 - that Luke 8:51 - he suffered Luke 11:2 - When Galatians 4:6 - crying 1 Thessalonians 3:11 - God
Cross-References
But Noah was different. God liked what he saw in Noah.
"I'm going to bring a flood on the Earth that will destroy everything alive under Heaven. Total destruction.
"But I'm going to establish a covenant with you: You'll board the ship, and your sons, your wife and your sons' wives will come on board with you. You are also to take two of each living creature, a male and a female, on board the ship, to preserve their lives with you: two of every species of bird, mammal, and reptile—two of everything so as to preserve their lives along with yours. Also get all the food you'll need and store it up for you and them."
And God did think twice. He decided not to do the evil he had threatened against his people.
Yes, God will judge his people, but oh how compassionately he'll do it. When he sees their weakened plight and there is no one left, slave or free, He'll say, "So where are their gods, the rock in which they sought refuge, The gods who feasted on the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink-offerings? Let them show their stuff and help you, let them give you a hand!
"Oh, dear people, will you listen to me now? Israel, will you follow my map? I'll make short work of your enemies, give your foes the back of my hand. I'll send the God -haters cringing like dogs, never to be heard from again. You'll feast on my fresh-baked bread spread with butter and rock-pure honey."
class="poetry"> Come, let's shout praises to God , raise the roof for the Rock who saved us! Let's march into his presence singing praises, lifting the rafters with our hymns! And why? Because God is the best, High King over all the gods. In one hand he holds deep caves and caverns, in the other hand grasps the high mountains. He made Ocean—he owns it! His hands sculpted Earth! So come, let us worship: bow before him, on your knees before God , who made us! Oh yes, he's our God, and we're the people he pastures, the flock he feeds. Drop everything and listen, listen as he speaks: "Don't turn a deaf ear as in the Bitter Uprising, As on the day of the Wilderness Test, when your ancestors turned and put me to the test. For forty years they watched me at work among them, as over and over they tried my patience. And I was provoked—oh, was I provoked! ‘Can't they keep their minds on God for five minutes? Do they simply refuse to walk down my road?' Exasperated, I exploded, ‘They'll never get where they're headed, never be able to sit down and rest.'"
God gave his word and he won't take it back: you're the permanent priest, the Melchizedek priest. The Lord stands true at your side, crushing kings in his terrible wrath, Bringing judgment on the nations, handing out convictions wholesale, crushing opposition across the wide earth. The King-Maker put his King on the throne; the True King rules with head held high!
Tested in the Furnace of Affliction "And now listen to this, family of Jacob, you who are called by the name Israel: Who got you started in the loins of Judah, you who use God 's name to back up your promises and pray to the God of Israel? But do you mean it? Do you live like it? You claim to be citizens of the Holy City; you act as though you lean on the God of Israel, named God -of-the-Angel-Armies. For a long time now, I've let you in on the way I work: I told you what I was going to do beforehand, then I did it and it was done, and that's that. I know you're a bunch of hardheads, obstinate and flint-faced, So I got a running start and began telling you what was going on before it even happened. That is why you can't say, ‘My god-idol did this.' ‘My favorite god-carving commanded this.' You have all this evidence confirmed by your own eyes and ears. Shouldn't you be talking about it? And that was just the beginning. I have a lot more to tell you, things you never knew existed. This isn't a variation on the same old thing. This is new, brand-new, something you'd never guess or dream up. When you hear this you won't be able to say, ‘I knew that all along.' You've never been good listeners to me. You have a history of ignoring me, A sorry track record of fickle attachments— rebels from the womb. But out of the sheer goodness of my heart, because of who I am, I keep a tight rein on my anger and hold my temper. I don't wash my hands of you. Do you see what I've done? I've refined you, but not without fire. I've tested you like silver in the furnace of affliction. Out of myself, simply because of who I am, I do what I do. I have my reputation to keep up. I'm not playing second fiddle to either gods or people. "Listen, Jacob. Listen, Israel— I'm the One who named you! I'm the One. I got things started and, yes, I'll wrap them up. Earth is my work, handmade. And the skies—I made them, too, horizon to horizon. When I speak, they're on their feet, at attention. "Come everybody, gather around, listen: Who among the gods has delivered the news? I, God , love this man Cyrus, and I'm using him to do what I want with Babylon. I, yes I, have spoken. I've called him. I've brought him here. He'll be successful. Come close, listen carefully: I've never kept secrets from you. I've always been present with you." And now, the Master, God , sends me and his Spirit with this Message from God , your Redeemer, The Holy of Israel: "I am God , your God, who teaches you how to live right and well. I show you what to do, where to go. If you had listened all along to what I told you, your life would have flowed full like a river, blessings rolling in like waves from the sea. Children and grandchildren are like sand, your progeny like grains of sand. There would be no end of them, no danger of losing touch with me." Get out of Babylon! Run from the Babylonians! Shout the news. Broadcast it. Let the world know, the whole world. Tell them, " God redeemed his dear servant Jacob!" They weren't thirsty when he led them through the deserts. He made water pour out of the rock; he split the rock and the water gushed. "There is no peace," says God , "for the wicked."
But they turned on him; they grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned on them, became their enemy and fought them.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet,.... Or "chamber", a secret place, fit for private retirement, meditation, and prayer.
And when thou hast shut thy door; see some such like phrases in
Isaiah 26:20 where they are used to express security, here secrecy. Our Lord does not mean to exclude and condemn public prayer, in joining with few, or more persons, in such service; for he himself directs to it, and approves of it, Matthew 18:19 but his view is to instruct persons that they should not only pray in public, but in private also; and especially the latter, which is more suitable and fitting for their particular cases, and less liable to pride, hypocrisy, and vanity.
Pray to thy Father, which is in secret; who is invisible; not to be seen with the eyes of the body, but to be approached with a true heart, in faith and fear, through his Son Jesus Christ, the only mediator between God and man; and who is the image of the invisible God, and in whom he is pleased to manifest himself to his people, so as he does not unto the world:
and thy Father, which seeth in secret, observes and takes notice of the secret breathings, pantings, desires, and requests of thy heart and lips,
shall reward thee openly, both here and hereafter; by pouring into thy bosom all the good things thou hast been praying for, both for time and eternity. This is agreeable to what the Jews sometimes say,
"that a man ought not to cause his voice to be heard in prayer; but should pray בלחש, "silently", with a voice that is not heard; and this is the prayer which is daily accepted g.''
g Zohar in Gen. fol. 114. 4.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Enter into thy closet - Every Jewish house had a place for secret devotion. The roofs of their houses were flat places, well adapted for walking, conversation, and meditation. See the notes at Matthew 9:2. Professor Hackett (“Illustrations of Scripture,” p. 82) says: “On the roof of the house in which I lodged at Damascus were chambers and rooms along the side and at the corners of the open space or terrace, which constitutes often a sort of upper story. I observed the same thing in connection with other houses.” Over the porch, or entrance of the house, there was frequently a small room of the size of the porch, raised a story above the rest of the house, expressly appropriated for the place of retirement. Here, in secrecy and solitude, the pious Jew might offer his prayers, unseen by any but the Searcher of hearts. To this place, or to some similar place, our Saviour directed his disciples to repair when they wished to hold communion with God. This is the place commonly mentioned in the New Testament as the “upper room,” or the place for secret prayer.
The meaning of the Saviour is, that there should be some place where we may be in secret - where we may be alone with God. There should be some “place” to which we may resort where no ear will hear us but “His” ear, and no eye can see us but His eye. Unless there is such a place, secret prayer will not be long or strictly maintained. It is often said that we have no such place, and can secure none. We are away from home; we are traveling; we are among strangers; we are in stages and steamboats, and how can we find such places of retirement? I answer, the desire to pray, and the love of prayer, will create such places in abundance. The Saviour had all the difficulties which we can have, but yet he lived in the practice of secret prayer. To be alone, he rose up “a great while before day,” and went into a solitary place and prayed, Mark 1:35. With him a grove, a mountain, a garden, furnished such a place, and, though a traveler, and among strangers, and without a house, he lived in the habit of secret prayer. What excuse can they have for not praying who have a home, and who spend the precious hours of the morning in sleep, and who will practice no self-denial that they may be alone with God? O Christian! thy Saviour would have broken in upon these hours, and would have trod his solitary way to the mountain or the grove that he might pray. He did do it. He did it to pray for thee, too indolent and too unconcerned about thy own salvation and that of the world to practice the least self-denial in order to commune with God! How can religion live thus? How can such a soul be saved?
The Saviour does not specify the times when we should pray in secret. He does not say how often it should be done. The reasons may have been:
(1)That he designed that his religion should be “voluntary,” and there is not a better “test” of true piety than a disposition to engage often in secret prayer. He intended to leave it to his people to show attachment to him by coming to God often, and as often as they chose.
(2)An attempt to specify the times when this should be done would tend to make religion formal and heartless. Mohammed undertook to regulate this, and the consequence is a cold and formal prostration at the appointed hours of prayer all over the land where his religion has spread.
(3)The periods are so numerous, and the seasons for secret prayer vary so much, that it would nor be easy to fix rules when this should be done.
Yet without giving rules, where the Saviour has given none, we may suggest the following as times when secret prayer is proper:
1. In the morning. Nothing can be more appropriate when we have been preserved through the night, and when we are about to enter upon the duties and dangers of another day, than to render to our great Preserver thanks, and to commit ourselves to His fatherly care.
2. In the evening. When the day has closed, what would be more natural than to offer thanksgiving for the mercies of the day, and to implore forgiveness for what we have said or done amiss? And when about to lie down again to sleep, not knowing but it may be our last sleep and that we may awake in eternity, what more proper than to commend ourselves to the care of Him “who never slumbers nor sleeps?”
3. We should pray in times of embarrassment and perplexity. Such times occur in every man’s life, and it is then a privilege and a duty to go to God and seek his direction. In the most difficult and embarrassed time of the American Revolution, Washington was seen to retire to a grove in the vicinity of the camp at Valley Forge. Curiosity led a man to observe him, and the father of his country was seen on his knees supplicating the God of hosts in prayer. Who can tell how much the liberty of this nation is owing to the answer to the secret prayer of Washington?
4. We should pray when we are beset with strong temptations. So the Saviour prayed in the garden of Gethsemane (compare Hebrews 5:7-8), and so we should pray when we are tempted.
5. We should pray when the Spirit prompts us to pray; when we feel lust like praying; when nothing can satisfy the soul but prayer. Such times occur in the life of every Christian, (and they are “spring-times” of piety - favorable gales to waft us on to heaven. Prayer to the Christian, at such times, is just as congenial as conversation with a friend when the bosom is filled with love; as the society of father, mother, sister, child is, when the heart glows with attachment; as the strains of sweet music are to the ear best attuned to the love of harmony; as the most exquisite poetry is to the heart enamored with the muses; and as the most delicious banquet is to the hungry.
Prayer, then, is the element of being - the breath the vital air; and, then, the Christian must and should pray. He is the most eminent Christian who is most favored with such strong emotions urging him to prayer. The heart is then full; the soul is tender; the sun of glory shines with unusual splendor; no cloud intervenes; the Christian rises above the world, and pants for glory. then we may go to be alone with God. We may enter the closet, and breathe forth our warm desires into his ever-open ear, and He who sees in secret will reward us openly.
In secret - Who is unseen.
Who seeth in secret - Who sees what the human eye cannot see; who sees the real designs and desires of the heart. Prayer should always be offered, remembering that God is acquainted with our real desires; and that it is those real desires, and not the words of prayer, that he will answer.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Matthew 6:6. But thou, when thou prayest — This is a very impressive and emphatic address. But THOU! whosoever thou art, Jew, Pharisee, Christian-enter into thy closet. Prayer is the most secret intercourse of the soul with God, and as it were the conversation of one heart with another. The world is too profane and treacherous to be of the secret. We must shut the door against it: endeavour to forget it, with all the affairs which busy and amuse it. Prayer requires retirement, at least of the heart; for this may be fitly termed the closet in the house of God, which house the body of every real Christian is, 1 Corinthians 3:16. To this closet we ought to retire even in public prayer, and in the midst of company.
Reward thee openly. — What goodness is there equal to this of God to give, not only what we ask, and more than we ask, but to reward even prayer itself! How great advantage is it to serve a prince who places prayers in the number of services, and reckons to his subjects' account, even their trust and confidence in begging all things of him!
