Bible Dictionaries
Repetitions

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

In prayers, which our Saviour censures, Matthew 6:7 , were short forms or particular expressions in prayer, which the Jews were accustomed to repeat a certain number of times. So Roman-catholics still repeat the Lord's prayer, Ave Marias, etc., a great number of times; and think that the oftener a prayer is repeated, the more meritorious and efficacious it is. The repeated cry of a soul in earnest is indeed welcome to God, Genesis 18:1-33; Matthew 26:44; Luke 18:1; but he regards the heart and not the lips; and the greater the number of prayers one repeats as a task by which to acquire merit, the greater his sin.

Bibliography Information
Rand, W. W. Entry for 'Repetitions'. American Tract Society Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/​dictionaries/​eng/​ats/​r/repetitions.html. 1859.