What Does Matthew 6:5 Mean?
And when you pray, you shall not be as the actors are, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the broad streets, that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward in full.
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 when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.THE KEY
The prayer’s audience becomes its wage: they perform to appear before people, and people’s notice is what they receive.
THE MEANING
When prayer is arranged to catch human eyes, recognition is the return it brings. The verse speaks now wherever devotion is shaped around being noticed. The attention they seek is already their reward.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that being seen proves a prayer is directed toward God: here, visibility itself is the reward named.
THE ROOT
ὑποκριταί
hypokritai
GROWS FROM
ὑποκρίνομαι
hypokrinomai
to play a part, act, or pretend
“actors” in this verse is hypokritai. The word carries the sense of acting a part; the verse then shows that part being played for an audience. The performance seeks to become visible, and the audience’s notice completes its wage.
ALSO GROWS
hypokritēs: actor; one who plays a part
ὑποκριτής
It makes the performance already present in “hypocrites” explicit.
hypokrisis: acting; pretense
ὑπόκρισις
It names the performed appearance that the verse links to being seen by others.
φανῶσιν
phanōsin
GROWS FROM
φαίνω
phainō
to bring to light or make appear; to shine or become visible
“be seen” in this verse is phanōsin. The wording carries the sense of appearing before others, not merely having someone notice an already private act. The performance is aimed at becoming visible, so visibility is part of what the prayer seeks.
ALSO GROWS
phainomai: to appear, become visible
φαίνομαι
It shares the appearance and visibility at the center of the verse.
phaneros: visible, manifest
φανερός
It shows the same root’s movement from appearing to being plainly seen.
προσεύχεσθαι
proseuchesthai
GROWS FROM
εὔχομαι
euchomai
to pray, wish, or vow
“pray” in this verse is proseuchesthai. Prayer is an appeal or wish directed toward someone; here, the stated aim of appearing before people reveals the audience the act is trying to reach. The verse distinguishes prayer’s form from the witness it seeks.
ALSO GROWS
euchē: prayer or vow
εὐχή
It preserves the prayer and vow sense in the root behind the verb.
proseuchē: prayer
προσευχή
It is the noun form for prayer, sharing the root in the word used here.
THE PATTERN
The audience an act seeks shapes the recognition it receives and can expose the difference between outward display and inward reality.
But the LORD said to Samuel, Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, for I have pushed him away. The LORD does not see as the human sees. The human sees what is outside, but the LORD sees the heart.For they loved the weight from humankind more than the weight of God.For now, do I persuade people or God? Or do I seek to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of the Anointed One.THE THREAD
Take heed not to do your alignment before men, to be seen by them; otherwise you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.The Greek noun μισθός (misthos, wage or reward) appears in both verses. Together they make the exchange plain: an act aimed at human sight receives human notice, while the Father’s reward belongs to a different audience.
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