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1 Take care not to do good deeds in front of other people to be seen by them, or else you will have no reward with your Father in Heaven. 2 When you give alms, do not blow a horn for yourself as hypocrites do in synagogues and on the streets, in order to win praise from others. Amen I tell you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your almsgiving may be in secret, and your Father who sees what is secret will repay you.

5 And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites who love to stand praying in the synagogues and on street corners, so they might be seen by others. Amen I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go to your room and close the door to pray to your Father in secret, and your Father who sees what is secret will repay you.

7 When you pray, do not babble on like the Gentiles, who think they will be heard on account of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 So pray like this:

Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your Kingdom come: your will be done on earth as in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Comments

In the first half of this chapter, Jesus deals with almsgiving, prayer, and fasting, which were considered essential features of first century Jewish piety (and are of course still important parts of modern Abrahamic religions). Jesus insists that, in so far as possible, these practices be done privately to ensure they are done to honor God, not to win human praise. (Cf. 5.16 with 6.3-4: Our actions should give glory to God, not ourselves.) 

Jesus also discourages lengthy petitions to God, since God already knows what we need before we ask it. Instead, he teaches his disciples what we now know as the Lord’s Prayer or the Our Father, a simple prayer built around seven requests. It should be noted that Jesus discourages lengthy prayers of petition. He presumably was not opposed to lengthy prayers praising and glorifying God. As a Jew, he would have recited long and repetitious prayers, such as Psalm 136.