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Our God is in heaven
    and does whatever he wills.(A)

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16 [a]The heavens belong to the Lord,
    but he has given the earth to the children of Adam.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 115:16 The heavens: the Septuagint reads here “the heaven of heavens” or “the highest heavens,” i.e., above the firmament. See note on Ps 148:4.

[a]In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words.[b]

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Footnotes

  1. 6:7–15 Matthew inserts into his basic traditional material an expansion of the material on prayer that includes the model prayer, the “Our Father.” That prayer is found in Lk 11:2–4 in a different context and in a different form.
  2. 6:7 The example of what Christian prayer should be like contrasts it now not with the prayer of the hypocrites but with that of the pagans. Their babbling probably means their reciting a long list of divine names, hoping that one of them will force a response from the deity.

III. Exhortations and Warnings

Doers of the Word. 19 Know this, my dear brothers: everyone should be quick to hear,[a] slow to speak, slow to wrath,(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 1:19–25 To be quick to hear the gospel is to accept it readily and to act in conformity with it, removing from one’s soul whatever is opposed to it, so that it may take root and effect salvation (Jas 1:19–21). To listen to the gospel message but not practice it is failure to improve oneself (Jas 1:22–24). Only conformity of life to the perfect law of true freedom brings happiness (Jas 1:25).