Dictionaries :: Pray, Prayer

Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words

Pray, Prayer:

"to pray (to God)," is used with this meaning in 2Cr 13:7; 2Cr 13:9, RV, "pray" (AV, "wish"); Jam 5:16; 3Jo 1:2, RV, "pray" (AV, wish). Even when the RV and AV translate by "I would," Act 26:29, or "wished for," Act 27:29 (RV, marg., "prayed"), or "could wish," Rom 9:3 (RV, marg., "could pray"), the indication is that "prayer" is involved.

Pray, Prayer:

"to pray," is always used of "prayer" to God, and is the most frequent word in this respect, especially in the Synoptists and Acts, once in Rom 8:26; Eph 6:18; Phl 1:9; 1Ti 2:8; Hbr 13:18; Jud 1:20. For the injunction in 1Th 5:17, see CEASE, C.

Pray, Prayer:

"to ask," is translated by the verb to pray in Luk 14:18, 19; 16:27; Jhn 4:31; 14:16; 16:26; 17:9, 15, 20; in Act 23:18, RV, "asked" (AV "prayed"); in 1Jo 5:16, RV, "should make request" (AV "shall pray").
See ASK, A, No. 2.

Pray, Prayer:

"to desire," in 2Cr 5:20; 8:4, RV, "beseech" (AV, "pray"): see BESEECH, No. 3.

Notes:

(1) Parakaleo, "to call to one's aid," is rendered by the verb "to pray" in the AV in the following: Mat 26:53 (RV, "beseech"); so Mar 5:17, 18; Act 16:9; in Act 24:4, RV, "intreat;" in Act 27:34, RV, "beseech."
See BESEECH, No. 1.

(2) In 1Th 5:23; 2Ti 4:16, there is no word in the original for "I pray," see the RV.

Pray, Prayer:

akin to A, No. 1, denotes "a prayer," Jam 5:15; "a vow," Act 18:18; 21:23.
See VOW.

Pray, Prayer:

akin to A, No. 2, denotes

(a) "prayer" (to God), the most frequent term, e.g., Mat 21:22; Luk 6:12, where the phrase is not to be taken literally as if it meant, "the prayer of God" (subjective genitive), but objectively, "prayer of God." In Jam 5:17, "He prayed fervently," RV, is lit., "he prayed with prayer" (a Hebraistic form); in the following the word is used with No. 3: Eph 6:18; Phl 4:6; 1Ti 2:1; 5:5;

(b) "a place of prayer," Act 16:13, 16, a place outside the city wall, RV.

Pray, Prayer:

primarily "a wanting, a need" (akin to A, No. 4), then, "an asking, entreaty, supplication," in the NT is always addressed to God and always rendered "supplication" or "supplications" in the RV; in the AV "prayer," or "prayers," in Luk 1:13; 2:37; 5:33; Rom 10:1; 2Cr 1:11; 9:14; Phl 1:4 (in the 2nd part, "request"); 1:19; 2Ti 1:3; Hbr 5:7; Jam 5:16; 1Pe 3:12.

Pray, Prayer:

is translated "prayer" in 1Ti 4:5; see INTERCESSION.

Notes:

(1) Proseuche is used of "prayer" in general; deesis stresses the sense of need; it is used sometimes of request from man to man.

(2) In the papyri enteuxis is the regular word for a petition to a superior. For the synonymous word aitema see PETITION; for hiketeria, Hbr 5:7, see SUPPLICATION.

(3) "Prayer is properly addressed to God the Father Mat 6:6; Jhn 16:23; Eph 1:17; 3:14, and the Son, Act 7:59; 2Cr 12:8; but in no instance in the NT is prayer addressed to the Holy Spirit distinctively, for whereas the Father is in Heaven, Mat 6:9, and the Son is at His right hand, Rom 8:34, the Holy Spirit is in and with the believers, Jhn 14:16, 17.

"Prayer is to be offered in the Name of the Lord Jesus, Jhn 14:13, that is, the prayer must accord with His character, and must be presented in the same spirit of dependence and submission that marked Him, Mat 11:26; Luk 22:42.

"The Holy Spirit, being the sole interpreter of the needs of the human heart, makes His intercession therein; and inasmuch as prayer is impossible to man apart from His help, Rom 8:26, believers are exhorted to pray at all seasons in the Spirit, Eph 6:18; cp. Jud 1:20; Jam 5:16, the last clause of which should probably be read "the inwrought [i.e., by the Holy Spirit] supplication of righteous man availeth much' (or 'greatly prevails' ischuo, as in Act 19:16, 20).

"None the less on this account is the understanding to be engaged in prayer, 1Cr 14:15, and the will, Col 4:12; Act 12:5 (where 'earnestly' is, lit., 'stretched out') and so in Luk 22:44.

"Faith is essential to prayer, Mat 21:22; Mar 11:24; Jam 1:5-8, for faith is the recognition of, and the committal of ourselves and our matters to, the faithfulness of God.

"Where the Jews were numerous, as at Thessalonica, they had usually a Synagogue, Act 17:1; where they were few, as at Philippi, they had merely a proseuche, or 'place of prayer,' of much smaller dimensions, and commonly built by a river for the sake of the water necessary to the preliminary ablutions prescribed by Rabbinic tradition, Act 16:13, 16." *
[* From Notes on Thessalonians by Hogg and Vine, pp. 189, 190.]