Matthew 6:8 BSB — MannaFest

Matthew 6:8

Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

Be not therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

KJV

Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

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Commentary

4 voices

Jerome

Catena Aurea by Aquinas (420)

On this there starts up a heresy of certain Philosophers who taught the mistaken dogma, that If God knows for what we shall pray, and, before we ask, knows what we need, our prayer is needlessly made to one who has such knowledge. (Epicureans.) To such we shortly reply, That in our prayers we do not instruct, but entreat; it is one thing to inform the ignorant, another to beg of the understanding: the first were to teach; the latter is to perform a service of duty.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

John Gill

1697–1771

Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748)

Be not ye therefore like unto them,..... Do not be imitators of them, and follow their ways, who have only the dim light of nature to guide them; it would be shameful in you to do as they do, when you have a divine revelation for your direction; and especially, because your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him; and therefore have no need to make use of many words, or much speaking, or long prayers.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible (1832)

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. Mat 6:5. 2ndly. Dissipation. Enter into thy closet.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

17 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
μὴ	mē	Not	G3361 →
οὖν	oun	therefore	G3767 →
ὁμοιωθῆτε	homoiōthēte	may be like	G3666 →
αὐτοῖς·	autois	to them;	G846 →
οἶδεν	oiden	has known
γὰρ	gar	for	G1063 →
ὁ	ho	the	G3588 →
πατὴρ	patēr	Father	G3962 →
ὑμῶν	humōn	of you	G4771 →
ὧν	hōn	of what things	G3739 →
χρείαν	chreian	need	G5532 →
ἔχετε	echete	you have	G2192 →
πρὸ	pro	before	G4253 →
τοῦ	tou	<the>	G3588 →
ὑμᾶς	humas	your	G4771 →
αἰτῆσαι	aitēsai	asking	G154 →
αὐτόν.¶	auton	Him.	G846 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Philippians 4:6
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
leads to
- Proverbs 3:5–6
  Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;
- 1 Peter 5:7
  Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.
- Matthew 6:25–33
  Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more…
- Psalms 55:22
  Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:17–18
  Pray without ceasing.
Through
Matthew 6:32
For the Gentiles strive after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
leads to
- Ephesians 4:17
  So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.
  Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
- Luke 12:30
  For the Gentiles of the world strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them.
- Luke 11:11–13
  What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?