Before I had done speaking in mine heart - So we find that the whole of this prayer, so circumstantially related Gen 24:12-14, and again Gen 24:42-44, was mental, and heard only by that God to whom it was directed. It would have been improper to have used public prayer on the occasion, as his servants could have felt no particular interest in the accomplishment of his petitions, because they were not concerned in them, having none of the responsibility of this mission.