Insight:
Pray - In some languages there are several different terms used for prayer…, for example, requests for material blessing, pleas for spiritual help, intercession for others, thanksgiving, and praise. The most generic expression for prayer may simply be ‘ It is normally best to avoid an expression which means primarily ‘to recite.’
-Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 408.