pray

«pray» in Mova's judaism dictionary: To speak to God or a god, to give thanks, ask for help or… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (pray, prays, prayed, praying)

meaning for a pupil

1) To speak to God or a god, to give thanks, ask for help or say you are sorry. tree →

2) To hope very strongly that something will happen: "We prayed for sunshine on sports day." tree →

3) In old-fashioned English, pray can mean please. tree →

sense in the lessons

In the Tanakh and Jewish tradition: An old way of saying "please," as in "I pray thee." It is a polite request to a person or to God, not always about prayer. Interpretation: The rabbis noticed that the Hebrew word na, "please," shows humble asking. Moses asking to see God's glory uses this same polite form. In the primary lessons: In everyday life many families pray before meals, at bedtime or in a church, mosque, synagogue or temple; others do not pray, and both are respected. In religious education lessons pupils learn how different faiths pray. In stories a character who "prays" for something shows how much they want it. Phrases: pray for, pray to, say a prayer.

examples

• I pray you give her unto him to wife. (Torah GEN.34.8, JPS 1917) tree →
• And he said: 'Show me, I pray Thee, Thy glory.' (Torah EXO.33.18, JPS 1917) tree →
• and said: 'Whose daughter art thou? tell me, I pray thee. (Torah GEN.24.23, JPS 1917) tree →
• And Hezekiah prayed unto the LORD, saying: (Prophets ISA.37.15, JPS 1917) tree →
• I pray you, let us leave off this exaction. (Writings NEH.5.10, JPS 1917) tree →
• Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? (Writings JOB.4.7, JPS 1917) tree →
• Some families pray before they eat dinner. tree →
• Muslims pray five times a day. tree →
• Grandma prays for us every night. tree →
• The farmers prayed for rain after the long dry summer. tree →
• We were all praying that the bus would not be late. tree →
• In assembly we learned how Hindus pray at a temple. tree →
• He knelt down to pray in the church. tree →
• "Take it pray, as a present!" tree →

note

Regular verb: pray, prayed, praying. The noun is "prayer". Homophone trap: "pray" (talk to God) and "prey" (an animal hunted by another animal) sound the same. "I pray" is about hope or worship, not about hunting. People of different faiths pray in different ways, and some people do not pray at all.

In the corpora

• And he said: 'I pray you, my brethren, do not so wickedly.
• and said: 'Whose daughter art thou? tell me, I pray thee.
• And I said unto her: Let me drink, I pray thee.
• Arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me.'
• Then Rachel said to Leah: 'Give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes.'

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «pray» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.