Prayer, Petition, Supplication and Intercession: What is the difference?

Prayer, Petition, Supplication, & Intercession

Prayer is a common word that means different things to different people. Some use many terms interchangeably to all refer to the general practice of “prayer.” However, some stumble when they read a verse like this in Philippians 4:

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (Philippians 4:6)

Wait, prayer and supplication? Likewise, the Apostle Paul exhorts in Ephesians 6, “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:18a).

So, what’s the difference between prayer, petition, supplication and intercession? Despite many using these terms interchangeably, there is nuance to each term that is worth understanding. However, this doesn’t mean that people who use these terms as synonyms are necessarily wrong. The discussion can be a little tricky because there are different Greek words used in the New Testament that are not translated with 100% consistency into English, even within the same translation. That is, sometimes the same Greek word is translated “prayer” in one place and “supplication” in another. All of these biblical terms, in both English and Greek, are used in the general sense of prayer as commonly understood. The main differences with these terms are found in the intensity and also in the object. An examination of the usage of each term in their respective biblical context makes this more clear. If you are interested in being precise, it is best to view “prayer” as the most general term. The terms “petition” and “supplication” carry a heavier connotation and are more appropriately used in more urgent or weighty matters of prayer. “Intercession” is a term reserved specifically for prayers offered to God on behalf of someone or something else, other than the one who is praying the prayer.

Let’s take a few minutes to dig a little deeper into the original Greek words so we can understand their English counterparts a little better. Don’t worry, you don’t need to be a Greek scholar to follow along.

Why Study in the Original Languages?

When attempting to study words from the text it is necessary to analyze the word being studied in the original language. In this case, we are studying the New Testament usage of these terms so we want to study them in Koine Greek. Sometimes I see and hear people doing word studies exclusively in English. That is, they read a verse and then give the definition of the English word. However, if we attempt to look up the words only in English we will produce error more often than not.

Here’s why. Consider this relevant example for our study on terms relating to prayer. If we look up the definition to “petition” in English, we’ll get results like what we see in Diagram 1.

The English word petition has within its range of meanings things that are certainly not within the scope of meanings for the Greek word. For example, the Greek word could never mean “a sheet that is signed to demonstrate agreement with some principle or desire for some social action to be taken.” The English word definitely could, though.

So, if we want to understand the biblical usage of these terms we need to stick to the actual words that are written in the New Testament. Otherwise, we will be importing new meanings into the text that the original authors never intended or imagined.

An additional difficulty is the fact that if I search for all occurrences of “petition(s)” in my English Bible I’ll get four hits in three verses in the NASB (Luke 1:13; two in Ephesians 6:18; 1 Timothy 2:1) but I’ll only get one result in the KJV; and it’s a different verse in the KJV (1 John 5:15) than any of the three I found in the NASB.

Even if we just stick to the NASB results, those four hits for the English word “petition” actually have two different Greek words represented. If we fail to do our study in the original language, then in this case we would be studying two different words as if they were one. And, we would be limiting our study of these words since both appear several more times in the New Testament although they are translated differently in the other occurrences.

“Prayer” in the New Testament

Our present study is limited to the use of various nouns in the New Testament. To be exhaustive, we would want to also examine the verbal forms, too. However, for the present study, we’ll see that the nuance of each root term can be understood and then those same results could be extended to the verbal forms when they are used in the New Testament as well.

The four different Greek nouns we’ll be taking a look at in the New Testament are:

Prayer - Proseuche

The word most commonly translated as “prayer” in our English Bibles is proseuche. This term appears 36 times in the New Testament (NT) in one form or another. For the purposes of this study, we are only examining the usage of these words as nouns. The verbal forms will not be included.

It is recommended that you read each and every occurrence in its context. Here is a list of the occurrences of proseuche in the NT:

Proseuche usage list in the New Testament

Petition - Deesis

The word translated “petition” in Philippians 4:6 (“supplication” in KJV and NASB) is translated from deesis.

Deesis is used 18 times (in 16 different verses) total in the NT in some form or another. Here’s a list of each verse for you to read on your own time:

Like proseuche above, deesis is likewise translated as “prayer” in most instances in many English bibles. This is the case for Luke 1:13 (cf. NIV and NASB); Luke 2:37; Luke 5:33; Romans 10:1; 2 Corinthians 1:11; 2 Corinthians 9:14; Ephesians 6:18 (deesis occurs twice in this verse; once as “praying”); Philippians 1:4 (deesis occurs twice in this verse; KJV renders “prayer” once and “request” on the second occurrence); Philippians 1:19; 1 Timothy 5:5; 2 Timothy 1:3; Hebrews 5:7 (an interesting verse because deesis is translated simply as “prayers” and a different word, hiketeria, which appears for the only time in the NT in this passage is translated as “supplications/petitions”); James 5:16; and 1 Peter 3:12.

If you were counting, that means that the word translated petition in Philippians 4:6 occurs 18 times (in 16 different verses) in the NT and is translated as prayer 15 of those times!

A superficial analysis might lead us to conclude that these words are simply interchangeable. However, this would be a mistake. In the three instances where deesis is translated differently than proseuche, the reason is that both words appear in the verse together. See Ephesians 6:18, Philippians 4:18 and 1 Timothy 2:1.

These three verses demonstrate that there are different nuances to each word that warrant both being used in the inspired instruction.

Intercession - Enteuxis

Our third Greek noun is enteuxis. This word is variously translated as “intercession,” “petition,” and “prayer.” This word only occurs twice in the New Testament and both are found in the first letter of Paul to Timothy (1 Timothy 2:1 & 1 Timothy 4:5).

The idea of interceding is a specific sub-category of prayer which seeks to offer those prayers on behalf of someone or something else. That is, these prayers are offered by someone for or about someone or something else that is not themselves. The object in 1 Timothy 2:1 is other people and the object in 1 Timothy 4:5 is food.

The verbal form related to this noun is used:

in Acts 25:24, where Festus explains that all the people had been appealing to him about Jesus;
in Romans 8:27, where the Holy Spirit is described as praying for the saints according to God’s will;
in Romans 8:34, where the risen and exalted Christ is described as praying for His people;
in Romans 11:2; where Paul describes Elijah’s prayer to God about Israel;
in Hebrews 7:25, where Christ is described as “always living to make intercession” for those who draw near to the Father through Him.

Supplication - Hiketeria

Our final Greek noun is hiketeria. This term is found only in Hebrews 5:7.

In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. (Hebrews 5:7, underline added)

This is a description of Jesus praying leading up to and while enduring the suffering of the wrath of God on behalf of sinners. You can read about Jesus’s crying out and praying to His Father in the Garden of Gethsemane and while He was dying upon the cross in the Gospels. Example sections would be:

Matthew 26:36-44 & Matthew 27:46
Mark 14:32-42 & Mark 15:34
Luke 22:39-46 & Luke 23:33-46

Conclusions From the Biblical Data

After collecting all of the data of word usage in the NT, we are left with four different words that have similar usage and contexts:

proseuche,
deesis,
enteuxis, and
hiketeria.

The first, proseuche, is the most commonly used word for “prayer” in the New Testament. It is used 36 times. As the broadest term, proseuche, covers the entire range of “communication with God.” As Christians, we have a tremendous privilege to communicate with God and this communication can take many different forms and tones. In general, proseuche refers to any and all such communication.

The second most common term for prayer is deesis. This term occurs 18 times in the NT. Just like with proseuche, the most common translation is simply “prayer.” However, when paired with the most common term (proseuche), deesis is often translated as “supplication/petition.” In usage, deesis is a stronger word than proseuche. It indicates more urgency and fervency on behalf of the one who is praying.

Here’s an example of the difference between these terms: I may commune with God as a believer and say things like, “Thank you, Lord, for that beautiful sunset!” In this case, there is no urgency. Instead, it is a general communication with the Lord and an expression of thanksgiving and personal devotion. Proseuche would rightly be used for such a communication.

In contrast, if I were to be in a difficult situation and was earnestly seeking direction from the Lord, I may pray (deesis) with more urgency saying, “Lord, please give me the wisdom I need for this situation!” Such an example of deesis is found in James 5:16 where the instruction is about praying for healing. If you peruse the 18 occurrences of deesis in the NT, you can see there is a weightier sense of urgency than a simple prayer of devotion or thanksgiving in view. Although still rightly translated as “prayer” in many of these instances, there is a heavier connotation to the usage in the New Testament.

The third word, enteuxis, appears only twice in the NT (1 Timothy 2:1 and 4:5). This particular word has a nuance of “intercession” or meeting with God on behalf of someone or something else. Again, all intercession with God could rightly fall under the umbrella of proseuche and certainly some intercession with God will carry a sense of urgency as with deesis. However, enteuxis is distinctive in the fact that the object of the prayer is not the individual doing the praying. In 1 Timothy 2:1 the object is other people (urging believers to intercede for “everyone”), while in 1 Timothy 4:5 the object is food.

All three nouns above (proseuche, deesis & enteuxis) are used in a row in 1 Timothy 2:1.

First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men (1 Timothy 2:1, underline added)

Lastly, the word hiketeria appears only once in the NT and is translated in most English Bibles as “supplications” but in the NIV as “petitions” (Hebrews 5:7). This is the most intense and heaviest of the words relating to prayer. It is only used of the prayers of our Lord in the garden prior to His passion and describing His crying out to His Father while dying on the cross.

Pray Always

When taking a step back and looking at the usage of these terms, we can better understand how it is that we are to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

The command to “pray” is related to the word proseuche. It means we are to be in communication with God without ceasing.

We can speak with Him in a general way expressing our joy and thanksgiving for His activity in our lives. We can speak to Him about the urgent and pressing matters in our own life and in the lives of others. We can even come to Him in our darkest and most trying situations.

The command to pray (proseuche) covers all of the possible scenarios of life and encourages us that God is always interested in communing with us. How cool is that?

For More on Prayer

If you like this content on prayer, check out our book Faithful in Prayer: Seven Biblical Priorities in Prayer. Understanding and praying according to the priorities that Jesus taught will revitalize your prayer life.

Prayer, Petition, Supplication and Intercession - What's the Difference?