John Gill Commentary Matthew 6:7

"And in praying use not vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking." — Matthew 6:7 (ASV)

But when you pray, use not vain repetitions
Saying the same things over and over again,

as the Heathens do ,
as the worshippers of Baal, from morning till noon, (1 Kings 18:26) . This our Lord observes, to dissuade from such practices, because the Gentiles, who were odious to the Jews, used them, and the Jews were guilty of the same; had they not, there would not have been any need of such advice:

for they think they shall be heard for their much speaking ;
as did the Jews, who, under pretence of "long prayers", devoured widows' houses; and with whom it is an axiom, that "everyone (hnen hlyptb) (hbrmh) , that multiplies prayer is heard" ^F8 ;

and whoever prolongs his prayer, his prayer does not return empty; and he that is long in prayer, his days are prolonged ^F9 : and, according to their canons, every day a man ought to pray eighteen prayers. Moreover, their prayer books abound in tautologies, and in expressing the same things in different words, and by a multiplicity of them.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F8: T. Hieros. Taaniot, fol. 67. 3.
• F9: Zohar in Exod. fol. 104. 4.