Talk to God as your Father, honestly and simply: “pray to your Father, who is unseen.” You can start with “Abba, Father.” In Luke 11:1, the Greek word is proseuchomai (G4336): to pray: to speak to God, to ask, to worship. It is the New Testament’s ordinary word for praying.
Get DeepWordWhat the original says
Behind “to pray” in this verse is the Greek word proseuchomai (said pros-YOO-kho-my).
It means to pray: to speak to God, to ask, to worship. It is the New Testament’s ordinary word for praying.
This form, proseuchomenon, is an ‘-ing’ form describing Jesus: he was praying. Later in the verse the disciple uses the same verb, “teach us to pray”.
In the Berean Standard Bible, it is ‘pray’ 80 times, counting its other forms. Luke often shows Jesus at prayer: “He frequently withdrew to the wilderness to pray” (Luke 5:16):
Word by word
| ἐν | τόπῳ | τινὶ | προσευχόμενον | ὡς | ἐπαύσατο | εἶπέν |
| in | a place | certain | praying | when | he ceased | said |
Original form
What this tells us
Luke tells this story on the way to Jerusalem. One day, when Jesus “had just finished praying”, one of his disciples asked him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” The disciple has watched Jesus pray many times; Luke says that once “He spent the night in prayer to God” (Luke 6:12). Now he wants to learn it himself. The word for “pray” is proseuchomai: to speak to God, to ask, to worship. Notice the request. The disciple does not ask Jesus to pray for them. He asks to be taught. Prayer, in this verse, is something you can learn, the way you learn any language: by being shown, and then trying. Jesus answers with a short prayer: “Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come” (Luke 11:2), and “Give us each day our daily bread” (Luke 11:3). It is simple enough to say in a few breaths. Then he adds, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you” (Luke 11:9). Christians pray this prayer in many ways, some word for word, others as a pattern for their own words. If you do not know how to pray, you are asking the same thing the disciples asked. That request is already a prayer.
What the original says
Behind “when you pray” in this verse is proseuchomai (said pros-YOO-kho-my), the word you met in Luke 11:1.
It is the same word, proseuchomai: to pray, to speak to God.
This form, proseuchē, goes with hotan, ‘whenever’: whenever you pray. Here Jesus speaks to one person, ‘you’ singular; in the verse before he spoke to many.
In the Berean Standard Bible, it is ‘pray’ 80 times. In the verse before this one, Jesus warns about people who “love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men” (Matthew 6:5):
Word by word
| σὺ | δέ | ὅταν | προσεύχῃ | εἴσελθε | εἰς | τὸ |
| you yourself | however | when | you may pray | do enter | into | the |
Original form
What this tells us
Jesus is in the middle of his teaching on the mountain, and he has just described a kind of prayer that is really a performance. Some people “love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men” (Matthew 6:5). “Truly I tell you,” he says, “they already have their full reward.” The word for “pray” is proseuchomai, and here Jesus speaks to one person at a time. “But when you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen.” Prayer is not for an audience. It is a conversation with someone who is really there, even though you cannot see him. The next verses add two things. You do not need many words: “do not babble on like pagans, for they think that by their many words they will be heard” (Matthew 6:7). And God is not waiting to be informed: “your Father knows what you need before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8). Think of a child who comes into a parent’s room and simply says what is on their mind. The child does not prepare a speech. You do not have to impress God, or find the right words. You can close the door, wherever your door is, and talk to your Father.
What the original says
Behind the word “prayed” in this verse is the Hebrew word palal (said pah-LAL).
In the Bible it is the ordinary Hebrew word for praying, and for pleading on someone’s behalf. Strong’s lists ‘to judge’ first and ‘to intercede, pray’ after it.
This form, vattitpallel, is ‘and’ with ‘she prayed’, the way Hebrew tells a story. The verb is in the form Hebrew uses in almost all of its verses about praying.
In the Berean Standard Bible, it is ‘pray’ 72 times, counting its other forms, and ‘intercede’ 5 times. God tells the exiles, “Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you” (Jeremiah 29:12):
Word by word
| וְהִיא | מָרַת | נָפֶשׁ | וַתִּתְפַּלֵּל | עַל | יְהוָה | וּבָכֹה |
| and · she | bitter of | soul | and · she prayed | to | The LORD | and · utterly |
Original form
What this tells us
Hannah has no children, and her husband’s other wife, Peninnah, has several. “Her rival would provoke her and taunt her viciously” (1 Samuel 1:6), year after year, until Hannah “wept and would not eat” (1 Samuel 1:7). At the house of the LORD at Shiloh, after the meal, she stands up and goes to pray. The word for “prayed” is palal. Hannah prays “In her bitter distress”, weeping as she goes. Her prayer is not tidy. “Hannah was praying in her heart, and though her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard” (1 Samuel 1:13), and the priest Eli thinks she is drunk. She answers him: “I have poured out my soul before the LORD” (1 Samuel 1:15), and “all this time I have been praying out of the depth of my anguish and grief” (1 Samuel 1:16). Eli sends her away in peace, and afterward “her face was no longer downcast” (1 Samuel 1:18), even before anything had changed. The psalms use the same picture of pouring out: “I pour out my complaint before Him; I reveal my trouble to Him” (Psalm 142:2). Prayer does not have to be calm or polite. Hannah’s was tears and moving lips, and the Bible remembers it as prayer.
Read every verse in the original Hebrew and Greek, in the app
Tap any word to see its meaning, lexicon entry, and every other place it appears.
Download on the App StoreWhat the original says
Behind the word “prayed” in this verse is palal (said pah-LAL), the word you met in 1 Samuel 1:10.
It is the same word, palal: to pray.
This form, vayyitpallel, is ‘and’ with ‘he prayed’, the same storytelling form as in 1 Samuel 1:10. It is the first word of the verse in Hebrew.
In the Berean Standard Bible, it is ‘pray’ 72 times. When Solomon dedicates the temple he asks God to hear “the prayer that Your servant is praying before You today” (1 Kings 8:28):
Word by word
| וַיִּתְפַּלֵּל | יוֹנָה | אֶל | יְהוָה | אֱלֹהָיו | מִמְּעֵי | הַדָּגָה |
| and · he prayed | Jonah | to | The LORD | God · his | from · inward parts of | the · fish |
Original form
What this tells us
Jonah has run from God. He “got up to flee to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD” (Jonah 1:3), was thrown into the sea in a storm, and “Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of the fish” (Jonah 1:17). This verse is where he starts to pray. The word for “prayed” is palal. Look where Jonah is when he prays: “From inside the fish”. He has not fixed anything. He is still in the mess he ran into. And his prayer begins, “In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered me” (Jonah 2:2). He remembers the moment it turned: “As my life was fading away, I remembered the LORD. My prayer went up to You, to Your holy temple” (Jonah 2:7). His prayer ends with thanks: “Salvation is from the LORD!” (Jonah 2:9). Then “the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land” (Jonah 2:10). Think of a phone call made from the bottom of a well: it is not a good place to call from, but the call still goes through. You do not have to climb out before you pray. Jonah prayed from the worst place he had ever been, a place he had chosen himself, and he was heard.
What the original says
Behind the word “Abba” in this verse is the word abba (said AHB-bah), an Aramaic word that Mark kept in his Greek.
It is the Aramaic word for father, the language Jesus spoke. Children used it, and so did grown sons and daughters: it is a word of closeness, but not baby talk.
This form, abba, is calling someone: “Abba!” Mark keeps the Aramaic word and then gives it in Greek right after, ho patēr, “Father”.
The Greek New Testament keeps this word only 3 times: here, and twice in Paul, “Abba, Father!” (Galatians 4:6):
Word by word
| καὶ | ἔλεγεν | αββα | ὁ | πατήρ | πάντα | δυνατά |
| and | he was saying | abba | o | father | all things | possible |
Original form
What this tells us
It is the night before the cross. Jesus has come with his disciples “to a place called Gethsemane” (Mark 14:32), and he has told them, “My soul is consumed with sorrow to the point of death” (Mark 14:34). “Going a little farther, He fell to the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour would pass from Him” (Mark 14:35). The word Jesus uses for God is abba, the Aramaic word for father, the language he spoke at home. Mark keeps it as Jesus said it, and adds the Greek beside it: “Abba, Father.” In the hardest prayer of his life, Jesus speaks to God as a son speaks to his father. The prayer is completely honest: “Take this cup from Me.” And completely trusting: “Yet not what I will, but what You will.” Hebrews remembers these days: “He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death” (Hebrews 5:7). Some Christians stress the honesty in this prayer, others the surrender; it holds both. You can say to God exactly what you want, and still leave the answer with him. Both belong in one prayer, and Jesus prayed them together.
What the original says
Behind the word “Abba” in this verse is abba (said AHB-bah), the Aramaic word Jesus used in Mark 14:36.
It is the same word, abba: father, in Aramaic, the word Jesus used when he prayed.
Here too Paul keeps the Aramaic word and adds the Greek one after it: “Abba! Father!” The verb before it, krazomen, “we cry”, is a word for crying out loud.
This word is in the Greek New Testament only 3 times: in Mark 14:36, here, and in Galatians 4:6, “Abba, Father!”:
Word by word
| υἱοθεσίας | ἐν | ᾧ | κράζομεν | αββα | ὁ | πατήρ |
| of divine adoption as sons | by | whom | we cry | abba | o | father |
Original form
What this tells us
Paul has been writing about life in the Spirit, and he has just said, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Romans 8:14). Then he describes what that feels like from the inside: not fear, but belonging. “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship”. The word is abba, the Aramaic word for father. Paul writes to Christians in Rome, most of whom did not speak Aramaic, and he still uses the word Jesus prayed in Gethsemane. Through the Spirit, Jesus’ own way of speaking to God becomes theirs, and they cry out the same words: “Abba! Father!” The next verse says, “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” (Romans 8:16). And a few verses later, for the days when words run out: “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how we ought to pray” (Romans 8:26). Think of a child adopted into a family, learning to call someone ‘father’ for the first time, and finding that it is true. You do not pray to God as a stranger asking for a favor. You are invited to call him what Jesus called him.
What the original says
Behind the word “Pray” in this verse is proseuchomai (said pros-YOO-kho-my), the word you met in Luke 11:1.
It is the same word, proseuchomai: to pray, to talk with God.
This form, proseuchesthe, is a command to many people, in a form that usually describes something ongoing. The word before it, adialeiptōs, “without ceasing”, means without stopping, without leaving it off.
In the Berean Standard Bible, it is ‘pray’ 80 times. Jesus told a parable “about their need to pray at all times and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1):
Word by word
| ἀδιαλείπτως | προσεύχεσθε |
| unceasingly | do pray |
Original form
What this tells us
Paul is ending his first letter to the church in Thessalonica, a young church he had to leave in a hurry. His last instructions come in short lines, almost like a list on a fridge: “Rejoice at all times” (1 Thessalonians 5:16), and then this verse, and then “Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). The word for “Pray” is proseuchomai, and the instruction is only two words in Greek: “Pray without ceasing.” Paul does not mean talking to God every second, with no time to work or sleep. The word before it describes something that keeps coming back, again and again, without a long break. Christians have practised this in different ways: set times of prayer through the day, short prayers breathed while working, a habit of turning to God whenever something happens. Daniel prayed “three times a day” (Daniel 6:10), and Paul told the Philippians, “in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6). It is less like a speech and more like keeping a phone line open with someone you love. Prayer does not have to wait for a quiet hour. It can be the next thing you say, wherever you are right now.
Behind "pray" are 13 different words
Your English Bible says "pray" 319 times. Behind it stand several Hebrew and Greek words:
Reflect
Read it as yours
This is the prayer Jesus prayed in the garden. Read it slowly; you are allowed to pray it too:
Name it
What would you say to God if you were sure he was listening, like a father in the next room? Write a few plain sentences. That is a prayer.
Carry with you
What is one plain sentence you could say to God today, wherever you are, without waiting for the right words?