The Lord's Prayer
My first genuine memory of the Lord’s Prayer takes shape when I was in the sixth grade. Every year my elementary school put on a theatrical version of the Salem Witch Trials. Our school was just a few miles from where those historic (or should I say hysteric) trials took place in the early 1690’s. I remember coming up through the grades watching the plays every year with characters like Goodie Smyth and Goodie Adams accusing their neighbors of witchcraft. It was all very dramatic. When I finally got to be my turn to act in the Witch Trial play, I waited and wondered who I would be.
It turns out that my character was the Rev. George Burroughs, who was arrested and accused of witchcraft on the testimony of 30 people (all of which was false evidence). The Rev. Burroughs was found guilty and sentenced to death. At the gallows, just before his hanging, Rev. Burroughs recited aloud the Lord’s Prayer, because witches were said not to be able to recite the prayer without stumbling, and George wanted to prove his innocence. He did it perfectly, but this did not save his life. He was hanged along with four others on August 19, 1692.
It all sounds pretty gruesome a topic for sixth graders! And it was. But this was where I first memorized the Lord’s Prayer. I, as George Burroughs, had to say it perfectly. I am sure I asked my mother to write down the Lord’s Prayer, and she gave it to me as our Methodist Church said it in the 1970’s, the version with “trespasses.” And because I memorized this when I was 10 years old, it’s still the version that is my default. I have to think about saying “debts” and “debtors” every time I say the Lord’s Prayer as a Presbyterian. The Rev. George Burroughs probably said “debts,” though, because he most likely knew the Geneva Bible translation from 1599. The Geneva Bible was preferred among the Puritans over the King James version.
It is striking to me that saying the Lord’s Prayer “incorrectly” could have cost someone his or her life 400 years ago. It mattered deeply to those caught up in the witchcraft hysteria just how someone said the prayer. It was literally a matter of life and death. [It also mattered to the early Puritans whether one said grace before or after dinner. The ones who prayed before the meal excommunicated those who prayed afterward.]
Today we have many options for saying the Lord’s Prayer. [Remember, the prayer exists in two different forms in the Bible: Matthew 6:9b-13 & Luke 11:2-4. Neither of these forms includes the final phrase, “For thine is the kingdom, power, and glory, forever.” That was added later.] Jesus would have spoken the prayer in his own language: Aramaic. The Gospel writers record the words in Greek. Western Europe would have known the prayer [the Pater Noster] in Latin for 1500 years. And in the early 1500s one could be put to death for translating the Bible into any other language than Latin…including the Lord’s Prayer.
My early experiences with the Lord’s Prayer shaped my understanding of what words to use and how to pray it. Getting the prayer exactly right isn’t the point. It’s not a magical spell. Jesus taught his disciples to pray like he prayed, but not necessarily use the same words. If he did intend that we’d all still be saying the prayer in Aramaic. Jesus often encouraged his disciples to live according to the “spirit of the law” and not the “letter of the law.” What I have learned is to pray the heart (essence) of the Lord’s Prayer…whether I say “trespasses” or “debts” or “sins” is immaterial. I pray as Christ encourages me to pray: in utter reliance upon and gratitude to God…from whom all blessings flow.
If you’d like to hear the Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic, click below.
If you want to know more about how the Lord’s Prayer has come to us in English, read on:
The first “English” version we have of the prayer comes from sometime before the year 1000 AD. It looked like this:
We don’t know who translated this passage into early English, but we do know who translated the prayer in the 1390’s. This was John Wycliffe. He disobeyed church orders and made a translation of the Bible from Latin for English people to read. He didn’t lose his life for it, but after he died, his body was dug up and burned, and his ashes were thrown into the Thames. Anyone who owned a copy of Wycliffe’s Bible could be arrested and burned at the stake, all for wanting to read the scripture in their everyday speech.
Here is what Wycliffe’s translation of the Lord’s Prayer would have looked like: Oure fadir that art in hevenes, halwid be thi name; thi kyngdom cumme to; be thi will done as in heven and in erthe; giv to us this day oure breed over other substaunce; and forgeve to us oure dettis, as we forgeve to our detours, and leede us nat in to temptacioun, but delyvere us fro yvel.
In the 1520s William Tyndale, during the reign of King Henry VIII, made a translation in the everyday speech of the English people. For doing this, Tyndale had to flee England. After a few years, Henry’s secret agents caught up with Tyndale, arrested him, and had him burned at the stake for heresy, that is, for translating the Bible into everyday speech.
Here is what Tyndale’s translation of the Lord’s Prayer would have looked like in 1534: O oure father which arte in heven, halowed be thy name. Let thy kyngdome come. Thy wyll be fulfilled as well in erth as it ys in heven. Geve vs this daye oure dayly breede. And forgeve vs oure treaspases even as we forgeve oure trespacers. And leade us not into teptacion: but delyver us fro evell. For thyne is the kyngedome and the power and the glorye for ever. Amen.
Within 30 years of Tyndale’s translation, England had switched from Protestant back to Catholic rule. Because of the tyranny of Queen Mary, many Protestants fled to Geneva. There, some English theologians sought out to create a new translation of the Bible. This came to be known after the city where these refugees were living. It became the primary Bible of 16th-century English Protestantism and was used by William Shakespeare, Oliver Cromwell, John Knox, John Donne, and John Bunyan, author of The Pilgrim's Progress (1678). It was one of the Bibles taken to America on the Mayflower.
Geneva Bible of 1560: Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done even in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever. Amen.
With the rise of popularity of English-language translations, the Roman Catholic Church finally relented and allowed a Catholic authorized version. This version was translated from the Latin Vulgate Bible, and it used a lot of “latinate” English words, making it hard for English readers to understand. You’ll see one major example of this below:
Douay-Rheims 1560: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our supersubstantial bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. Amen.
By the end of the long reign of the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I, Protestants in England sought to create a version of the scriptures that matched both the theology of the times and the language of everyday English folk. This version was published under the authorization of King James I. This version, which relied heavily on Tyndale’s and the Geneva, would eventually become the most popular version of the Bible in English for over the next 300 years.
King James Version (1611)
Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done in earth,
as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
forever. Amen.
Although there have been other major translations of the Bible in English since the King James, the Lord’s Prayer has remained predominantly unchanged substantially. In more recent times, paraphrase English Bibles have sought to make scripture very understandable to modern English speakers. Two notable paraphrase Bibles are The Living Bible and The Message.
The Living Bible (1996): Our Father in heaven, we honor your holy name. We ask that your kingdom will come now. May your will be done here on earth, just as it is in heaven. Give us our food again today, as usual, and forgive us our sins, just as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us. Don’t bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the Evil One. Amen.
The Message (2003 – Eugene Peterson):
Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best—
as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.
The modern ecumenical translation (1988) stays very close to the Greek of the New Testament, but in everyday English speech: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and for ever. Amen.
If I were translating the Greek text myself, I’d do it this way: Our Father who is in the heavens, let holy be your name! Let come your kingdom! Let be done your will, as in heaven also upon earth. Our bread for subsistence, give us today. And forgive us our offenses, as we forgive our offenders. And do not lead us into testing, but deliver us from evil. So be it.
Whatever the version, pray the essence of the prayer, relying on God’s Spirit to pray through us as we seek to pray.