Acts 1:24

προσευξάμενοι. They made a solemn supplication to God for His guidance. St Luke mentions the only point towards which the whole tenor of their petitions was directed, viz. for light to see God’s choice. No doubt the prayers, like the speeches in the book, were of greater extent than is indicated in the sentence or two of abstract in which the author sums up for us their purport.

The participle προσευξάμενοι, though aorist, is used to express a simultaneous action with the verb, ‘they prayed and (in their prayer) said.’

ἀνάδειξον. Having done their utmost to select fit persons, and having sought God’s blessing on their endeavour, they now ask for some token by which they may be guided in the final choice. From the use of κύριε we may judge that the prayer was addressed to Christ, by whom at first the Twelve had been chosen. καρδιογνώστης is applied to God the Father (Acts 15:8), but the Apostles (John 2:25) had learnt that their Master ‘knew what was in man.’