The Lord's Prayer
There are noticeable discrepancies between the Lord's Prayer as it is prayed in the liturgy and as it is presented by Matthew and Luke.
Liturgy | Mt 6:9-13 | Lk 11:1-4 |
---|---|---|
Our Father | Our Father | Father |
Who art in Heaven | in heaven | |
Hallowed be Your Name | Hallowed be Your Name | |
Your Kingdom come | your kingdom come | Your Kingdom come |
Your will be done | Your will be done | |
on earth as it is in Heaven. | on earth as in Heaven. | |
Give us this day our daily bread | Give us today our daily bread | Give us each day our daily bread |
And forgive us our trespasses | and forgive us our debts | and forgive us our sins |
as we forgive those who trespass against us | as we forgive our debtors | for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us |
And lead us not into temptation | and do not subject us to the final test | and do not subject us to the final test. |
But deliver us from evil. | but deliver us from the evil one. |
Greek versions
Mt 6:9-13 | Lk 11:2-4 |
---|---|
Î Î¬Ï„ÎµÏ á¼¡Î¼á¿¶Î½ | Î Î¬Ï„ÎµÏ |
á½ á¼Î½ τοῖς οá½Ïανοῖς· | |
á¼Î³Î¹Î±ÏƒÎ¸Î®Ï„ω τὸ ὄνομα σου | á¼Î³Î¹Î±ÏƒÎ¸Î®Ï„ω τὸ ὄνομα σου |
á¼Î»Î¸Îτω á½´ βασιλεία σου | á¼Î»Î¸Îτω ἡ βασιλεία σου |
γενηθήτω τὸ θÎλημα σου | |
ὡς á¼Î½ οá½Ïανῷ καὶ á¼Ï€á½¶ γῆς | |
τὸν ἄÏτον ἡμῶν τὸν á¼Ï€Î¹Î¿Ïσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμεÏον | τὸν ἄÏτον ἡμῶν τὸν á¼Ï€Î¹Î¿Ïσιον δίδου ἡμῖν τὸ καθ’ ἡμÎÏαν |
καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν Ï„á½° ὀφειλήματα ἡμῶν | καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν Ï„á½°Ï‚ á¼Î¼Î±Ïτίας ἡμῶν |
ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφήκαμεν τοῖς ὀφειλÎταις ἡμῶν | καὶ Î³á½°Ï Î±á½Ï„οὶ ἀφίομεν παντὶ ὀφείλοντι ἡμῖν |
καὶ μὴ εἰσενÎγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειÏασμόν, | καὶ μὴ εἰσενÎγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειÏασμόν |
ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηÏοῦ |
Trespass, Sin, and Debt
It seems that early English translators deliberately chose to render the Greek word for "debt" (ὀφείλημα) as "trespass" in English. Matthew uses the Greek word for "trespass" (παÏάπτωμα) in the verse immediately after the Lord's Prayer (6:14) as a synonym for what we need to forgive, so the substitution in the prayer itself has a good scriptural grounding.
"Trespass" became established in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer and the liturgy for the Eucharist. The Latin form in the Vulgate is "debts," and many Protestant denominations that broke away from Anglicanism or else developed independently of the English Protestant tradition use that translation, too.