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Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

Matthew 6:8

Verse Matthew 6:8. Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of] Prayer is not designed to inform God, but to give man a sight of his misery; to humble his heart, to excite his desire, to inflame his faith, to animate his hope, to raise his soul from earth to heaven, and to put him in mind that THERE is his Father, his country, and inheritance.

In the preceding verses we may see three faults, which our Lord commands us to avoid in prayer:-

1st. HYPOCRISY. Be not as the hypocrites. Matthew 6:5.

2ndly. DISSIPATION. Enter into thy closet. Matthew 6:6.

3rdly. MUCH SPEAKING, or UNMEANING REPETITION, Be not like the heathens. Matthew 6:7.

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See also Matthew 6:8 in other biblical comments:

  • A Textual Commentary On The Greek New Testament by Bruce M. Metzger

    MATTHEW 6:8 o` path.r u`mw/n {A} The expanded reading o` qeo.j o` path.r u`mw/n (aa B copsa Origen) occurs nowhere else in Matthew, and is a scribal intrusion reflecting a characteristically Pauline...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    CHAPTER 6 _ 1. The Better Righteousness.(Matthew 6:1 .) 2. Kept in the World; Single-eyed; Trusting God.(Matthew 6:19 .)_ Our Lord said: “For I say unto you, that unless your righteousness surpass th...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    THE FULFILLED LAW IN RELATION TO THE LIFE OF THE PHARISEES. Mt. only, though the digression on Prayer (Matthew 6:7) has parallels in Lk. MATTHEW 6:1 is a general warning; three aspects of the mechani...

  • B. W. Johnson's Bible Commentary

    FOR YOUR FATHER KNOWETH. Here is given abundant reason for short prayers. The Father already knoweth what we need. Our prayers do not tell our Father our needs, but simply confess our consciousness o...

  • Barclay Daily Study Bible (NT)

    THE REWARD MOTIVE IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE (Matthew 6:1-18) When we study the opening verses of Matthew 6:1-34, we are immediately confronted with one most important question-- What is the place of the...

  • Barclay Daily Study Bible (NT)

    And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they are fond of praying standing in the synagogues and at the corners of the streets, so that they may be seen by people. This is the truth...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    KNOWETH. Greek. _oida._ Very significant in this connection....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _for your Father knoweth … before ye ask him_ Our Father knows our wants, still we are bound to express them. Why? because this is a proof of our faith and dependence upon God, which are the condition...

  • Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges Commentary

    ΟἾΔΕΝ ΓᾺΡ Ὁ ΠΑΤῊΡ Κ.Τ.Λ. Our Father knows our wants, still we are bound to express them. Why? because this is a proof of our faith and dependence upon God, which are the conditions of success in praye...

  • Catena Aurea Commentary

    VER 7. "BUT WHEN YE PRAY, USE NOT VAIN REPETITIONS, AS THE HEATHEN DO: FOR THEY THINK THAT THEY SHALL BE HEARD FOR THEIR MUCH SPEAKING. 8. BE YE NOT THEREFORE LIKE UNTO THEM: FOR YOUR FATHER KNOWETH W...

  • Charles Box Commentaries

    _THE ACTION OF PRAYING MATTHEW 6:5-15_ : Prayer is to be a simple petition from a child (Christian) to his Father (God). We are not to pray to be "seen of men" but to be "heard of God." Prayer involve...

  • Charles Rose Commentaries

    ΌΜΟΙΩΘΉΤΕ _aor. conj. pass. от_ ΌΜΟΙΌΩ (G3666) уподоблять; _pass._ быть подобным. _Conj._ с ΜΉ (G3361) используется в запретах. ΟΙ ΔΕΝ (G1492) def. perf. в _praes._ означает "знать" ΧΡΕΊΑΝ ΈΧΕΤΕ с _...

  • Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae

    DISCOURSE: 1312 DIRECTIONS RESPECTING PRAYER Matthew 6:5. And when thou prayest, thou shall not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the str...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    BE NOT YE THEREFORE LIKE UNTO THEM— This argument would be forcible against all prayer in general, if prayer were considered only as a means of making our wants known to God; whereas it is no more tha...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    D. THE MOTIVES OF THE WISE AND GODLY MAN (Matthew 6:1-18) 3. HIS MOTIVE FOR PRAYING TO GOD. (Matthew 6:5-15,) TEXT: 6:5-15 5. And when ye pray, ye shall not be as the hypocrites: for they love to s...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. BE NOT YE THEREFORE LIKE UNTO THEM: FOR YOUR FATHER KNOWETH WHAT THINGS YE HAVE NEED OF B...

  • Concordant Commentary on the New Testament by A. E. Knoch

    1 The Pharisees deemed alms-giving, prayer and fasting the three most eminent exhibitions of piety, for alms was the ideal expression of their relation to their neighbor, prayer of their intercourse w...

  • Darby's translation notes (1890)

    6:8 beg (c-19) _ Aiteo_ . see ch. 7.7....

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

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  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    MAXIMS FOR PRAYER, AND THE LORD'S PRAYER. Perhaps the most significant v. of this section is Matthew 6:8, 'Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.' Christians, therefore, a...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    Prayer is not to inform God of our needs, as the heathen think, but that we may have conscious communion with Him as His children....

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

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  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    YOUR FATHER KNOWETH. — This truth is rightly made the ground of prayer in one of the noblest collects of the Prayer Book of the English Church — “Almighty God, the Fountain of all wisdom, who knowest...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

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  • Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

    _Further instruction in prayer_. Weiss (Mt.-Evan.) regards this passage as an interpolation, having no proper place in an anti-Pharisaic discourse. Both the opinion and its ground are doubtful. As reg...

  • Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

    Matthew 6:8, οὖν, infers that disciples must not imitate the practice described, because it is Pagan, and because it is absurd. Repetition is, moreover, wholly uncalled for. οἶδεν γὰρ : the God whom J...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    SECRET GIVING AND SECRET PRAYING Matthew 6:1-8 First we have the general proposition that righteousness, that is, one's religious duties, should not be done for the sake of display; and that princip...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    In the first verse the Revised Version has substituted the word "righteousness" for "alms," "a reading approved of, almost unanimously, by the great editors and critics" (Morrison). This is a statemen...

  • Godbey's Commentary on the New Testament

    CHAPTER 16 SERMON ON THE MOUNT Matthew 5-7, and Luke 6:20-49. A few days ago it was my privilege to spend two beautiful bright days at the sea of Galilee, sailing over it, and visiting the places of...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. Here the LORD speaks of prayer, and which is yet more express in reference to the LORD. Secr...

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

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  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

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  • John Darby's Synopsis

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  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

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  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

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  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

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  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

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  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

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  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

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  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

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  • NT Verse References in the Ante-Nicene Fathers

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  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

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  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

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  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

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  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    THEIR RELIGIOUS EXERCISES ARE TO BE KNOWN ONLY TO THE FATHER AND NOT TO MEN (6:1-18). We will now, therefore, initially consider together the first four passages which deal with their religious behavi...

  • Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary on the NT (4 vols)

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  • Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary on the NT (4 vols)

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  • Sermon Bible Commentary

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  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

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  • Summarized Bible Commentary

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  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

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  • The Bible Study New Testament

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  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _But when ye pray._ PRAYER FORBIDDEN I. Let us endeavour to explain the nature of the evils here forbidden. 1. Vain repetitions. 2. Much speaking. 3. Undue length. II. The reason on which the ad...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    MATTHEW—NOTE ON MATTHEW 6:7 HEAP UP EMPTY PHRASES. Pagans repeated the names of their gods or the same words over and over without thinking (see 1 Kings 18:26;...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    MATTHEW—NOTE ON MATTHEW 6:5 Prayer was also expected of God’s people. Public prayer was a common practice in NT times. ⇐...

  • The Great Commentary of Cornelius à Lapide

    CHAPTER 6 _Take heed_. &c. Instead of _alms_, some Greek Codices read _δικαιοσύνην, righteousness_, or _justice._ This is the reading of the Syriac and the Latin Vulgate. The Complutensian, Royal, and...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    _CRITICAL NOTES_ Matthew 6:1. ALMS.—_Righteousness_ (R.V.) is probably correct and shows the connection between this chapter and the preceding, better than “alms.” In ch. Matthew 5:20, the disciples a...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION MATTHEW 6:1 _The_ _relation of our Lord and his disciples to the religion of the day _(_continued_);_ vide _Matthew 5:17, note. (_b_) Our Lord turns from cases which could be directly dedu...

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  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

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  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

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  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of — We do not pray to inform God of our wants. Omniscient as he is, he cannot be informed of any thing which he knew not before: and he is always willing...

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