“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.”
And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. The same structure as the giving instruction: the hypocrites who pray in visible locations to maximize their audience have received their reward — the attention they sought. The synagogue prayer and the street-corner prayer are not inherently wrong (public prayer has its place), but the motive of being seen by others corrupts the act. Prayer addressed to a human audience is not prayer in the kingdom sense; it is speech about prayer performed for the human gallery. The audience determines the nature of the act.
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