What Does Luke 11:1 Mean?
And it came to be, as he was praying in a certain place, that when he stopped, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.THE KEY
The word translated “disciples” means learners, so the request to be taught prayer is already written into who they are.
THE MEANING
Prayer appears as a lived practice you can witness and a way you can ask to learn. The learners bring their question to the one whose praying they have just seen. The pause after prayer becomes an opening for teaching.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that prayer must be instinctive or privately self-invented: here, learners openly ask to be taught.
THE ROOT
μαθητῶν
mathētōn
GROWS FROM
μανθάνω
manthanō
To learn, to acquire knowledge through learning.
“disciples” in this verse is mathētōn. The Greek word behind “disciple” centers on being a learner. The verse joins that identity to an explicit request for instruction: these learners are formed by asking how prayer is lived.
ALSO GROWS
mathētēs: Learner; disciple.
μαθητής
This is the singular form of the word used for the learners in the verse.
mathēteuō: To make or train as a disciple.
μαθητεύω
The word family holds both the learner and the process of forming learners.
προσευχόμενον
proseuchomenon
GROWS FROM
εὔχομαι
euchomai
To pray, wish, or vow; the precise sense depends on context.
“praying” in this verse is proseuchomenon. The prayer-word belongs to a family that also names a wish or vow, keeping prayer close to expressed desire. Here the scene is prayer, made visible in a life and then named as something the learners want to learn.
ALSO GROWS
euchē: Prayer; in some contexts, a vow.
εὐχή
This noun shares the prayer-word family behind Jesus’ visible practice.
proseuchē: Prayer.
προσευχή
This is the related noun for prayer, showing the shared word-family across the act and its name.
THE PATTERN
Prayer is a living practice that can be asked for, learned, and sustained.
Show me your ways, LORD; teach me your paths.And in the morning, while it was still dark, rising long before day, he went out and went away to an empty place, and there he prayed.Pray without leaving a gap.THE THREAD
A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully mended will be like his teacher.Both verses use μαθητής (mathētēs, “learner”) for “disciple.” Luke 6:40 describes the learner becoming like the teacher; Luke 11:1 shows that formation beginning with a learner who sees Jesus pray and asks to be taught.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us