120 The Lords Prayer
From Faith Futures
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Contents |
Data
(1a) 1Q: Luke 11:(1)2-4 =(!) Matt 6:9-13;
(1b) Gos. Naz. 5;
(1c) Pol. Phil. 7:2a;
(2) Did. 8:2b.
Crossan analysis:
Item: 120
Stratum: I (30-60 CE)
Attestation: Double
Historicity: -
Texts
(1a) Sayings Gospel Q: Luke 11:2-4
He said to them, "When you pray, say:
Father,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial."
= Matt 6:9-13
Pray then in this way:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one.
(1b) Gos. Naz.
Ch. 3a reported by Jerome, Commentary on Matthew 1 (commenting on Matt 6:11)
In the so-called Gospel of the Hebrews <in the Lord's prayer>, instead of "the bread we need for the day" I found "mahar," which means "for tomorrow," so that the sense is "Provide us today with the bread we need for tomorrow"---that is, for the future.
(1c) Pol. Phil.
CHAPTER VI.--THE DUTIES OF PRESBYTERS AND OTHERS.
And let the presbyters be compassionate and merciful to all, bringing back those that wander, visiting all the sick, and not neglecting the widow, the orphan, or the poor, but always "providing for that which is becoming in the sight of God and man ; " abstaining from all wrath, respect of persons, and unjust judgment; keeping far off from . all covetousness, not quickly crediting [an evil re port] against any one, not severe in judgment, as knowing that we are all under a debt of sin. If then we entreat the Lord to forgive us, we ought also ourselves to forgive; for we are before the eyes of our Lord and God, and "we must all appear at the judgment-seat of Christ, and must every one give an account of himself." Let us then serve Him in fear, and with all reverence, even as He Himself has commanded us, and as the apostles who preached the Gospel unto us, and the prophets who proclaimed beforehand the coming of the Lord [have alike taught us]. Let us be zealous in the pursuit of that which is good, keeping ourselves from causes of offence, from false brethren, and from those who in hypocrisy bear the name of the Lord, and draw away vain men into error.
CHAPTER VII.--AVOID THE DOCETAE, AND PERSEVERE IN FASTING AND PRAYER.
For whosoever does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, is antichrist;" and whosoever does not confess the testimony of the cross, is of the devil; and whosoever perverts the oracles of the Lord to his own lusts, and says that there is neither a resurrection nor a judgment, he is the first-born of Satan. Wherefore, forsaking the vanity of many, and their false doctrines, let us return to the word which has been handed down to us from the beginning; "watching unto prayer," and persevering in fasting; beseeching in our supplications the all-seeing God "not to lead us into temptation," as the Lord has said: "The spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak."
(2) Did. 8:2b
And do not pray as the wicked [do];
pray instead this way, as the Lord directed in his gospel:
Our Father who are in heaven.
May your name be acclaimed as holy,
May your kingdom come.
May your will come to pass on earth as it does in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread,
And cancel for us our debt,
As we cancel [debts] for those who are indebted to us.
And do not bring us into temptation,
But preserve us from evil [or, from the evil one].
For power and glory are yours forever.
Pray this way thrice daily.
[Niederwimmer, Hermeneia, 134]
Literature
Joachim Jeremias
A translation of Das Vater-Unser im Lichte der Neueren Forschung (from Religion Online), No. 50 in the "Calwer Hefte" series, published in Stuttgart in 1962. This translation was published in 1964 by Fortress Press.
Introduction by John Reumann
Precisely because this prayer seems twenty centuries thus removed from our thought world, we need a guide to lead us through its ancient landmarks, so that we may pray as Jesus first taught and encouraged his disciples to pray.
Versions of the Lord’s Prayer
The Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 and in Luke 11:2-4 both in The King James Version and in The Revised Standard Version.
Chapter 1: The Lord’s Prayer in the Ancient Church</a>
The Lord’s prayer was used in conjunction with baptism in the early church, even into the latter part of the first century. Its use was limited to full church members and kept secret from nonmembers.
Chapter 2: The Earliest Text of the Lord’s Prayer
Viewed as a whole, our results may be summarized thus: the Lucan version has preserved the oldest form with respect to length, but the Matthean text is more original with regard to wording.
Chapter 3: The Meaning of The Lord’s Prayer
The Lord’s Prayer is the clearest and, in spite of its terseness, the most comprehensive summary of Jesus’ proclamation which we possess.
Versions and Paraphrases
Aramaic Version
Galilean transliteration of the Lord's Prayer with Aramaic sound file
Avvon d-bish-maiya, nith-qaddash shim-mukh.
Tih-teh mal-chootukh. Nih-weh çiw-yanukh:
ei-chana d'bish-maiya: ap b'ar-ah.
Haw lan lakh-ma d'soonqa-nan yoo-mana.
O'shwooq lan kho-bein:
ei-chana d'ap kh'nan shwiq-qan l'khaya-ween.
Oo'la te-ellan l'niss-yoona:
il-la paç-çan min beesha.
Mid-til de-di-lukh hai mal-choota
oo khai-la oo tush-bookh-ta
l'alam al-mein. Aa-meen
Traditional English Version
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 daily bread.
And forgive us our tresspasses
as we forgive those who tresspass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory
for ever and ever. Amen.
Contemporary Ecumenical Text
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.
English Language Liturgical Consultation, 1988
The International Q Project
IQP reconstructs the original Q version as follows:
Father -- may your name be kept holy!
-- let your reign come:
Our day's bread give us today;
and cancel our debts for us,
as we too have cancelled for those in debt to us;
and do not put us to the test!
Jesus Seminar
The Jesus Seminar version of the Lord's Prayer in the Sayings Gospel Q, as presented by Hal Tausing in Jesus before God (Polebridge Press, 1999: 52), reads as follows:
Abba/Father,
Your name be revered.
Let your basileia/kigdom/reign come.
Give us the bread we need for today
And forgive us our debts
to the extent that we forgive those who are in debt to us.
And please don't subject us to test after test.
In The Five Gospels the Seminar's translation of Luke 11:2b-4 reads as follows:
Abba/Father,
Your name be revered.
Impose your imperial rule.
Provide us with the bread we need day by day
And forgive us our sins
since we too forgive everyone in debt to us.
And please don't subject us to test after test.
Alternative Service Book (Church of England)
Abba our God,
whom the heavens disclose,
may your name be held holy,
your authority come.
May your longing be fulfilled
as in heaven, so on earth.
Give us today
the bread of tomorrow,
and cancel our debts
as we have already
forgiven our debtors.
Do not draw us in
to sinful enticement
but set us free
from the grip of evil;
for authority and power and glory
are yours alone, for ever.
Amen
"Christians are formed by the way in which they pray."
(Preface, The Alternative Service Book, 1980).
New Zealand Anglican Prayer Book
Eternal Spirit
Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all, Loving God, in whom is heaven.
The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom
sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory and power that is love,
now and forever, Amen. [p. 181]
Sherri Weinberg
See also the Heartbeat of Life Great Thanksgiving Prayer.
God - heart of the world:
revealed through every aspect of creation:
understood through our awareness.
May we honour the holiness of creation and act accordingly
so that your love is reflected in the way we live.
May we always be thankful for the food we eat
and the friends we have.
May we forgive those who transgress against us
and be forgiven for our own.
In the freedom of love may we live as your heartbeat
and not be compromised by hesitation.
Through our freedom, may your justice
be seen and heard and experienced forever and ever. Amen.
Parallels
Rabbinic literature
Samuel T. Lachs, Rabbinic Commentary on the New Testament [117-24] lists three (not two) NT texts as sources for the Lord’s Prayer:
- Matt 6:9-15
- Luke 11:2-4
- Mark 11:25
The passage from Mark comprises just the saying on forgiveness, but notice the several points at which this brief saying provides a Marcan parallel to the Q Prayer (as Taussig describes the more developed Paternoster):
And whenever you stand praying,
forgive, if you have anything against anyone,
so that you Father also who is in heaven
may forgive you your trespasses.
On the question of influences from Jewish liturgical prayers (such as the Shemoneh Esreh, the Eighteen Benedictions, or the Kaddish) Lachs observes as follows:
Neither of these theories is satisfactory and both are highly tenuous. It is appealing at first blush to see the Lord’s Prayer as a miniature Shemoneh Esreh. Both were to be recited three times by the faithful. Furthermore, the structure of the Shemoneh Esreh is tripartite, consisting of three benedictions of praise, twelve (thirteen) benedictions of petition, and three concluding benedictions of thanksgiving. One can easily discern the same tripartite division in the Matthean version of the Paternoster. Most New Testament scholars recognize that the Paternoster in its original form goes back to earlier times and is not the invention of the evangelists. The Shemoneh Esreh, however, emerges as the prayer par excellence only at the end of the first Christian century during the patriarchate of Rabban Gamaliel II. Furthermore, the Lord’s Prayer is so scant that to see in it a mini-Shemoneh Esreh is imaginative. Finally, the observation of a tripartite division fails, since the best MSS of the NT the last line, i.e., a liturgical endings of the Lord’s Prayer, is lacking. The Kaddish, too, fails as a model for the Lord’s Prayer, for the similarity of a few phrases is hardly enough to warrant this hypothesis.
Instead, Lachs proposes to find the explanation of the Paternoster in informal Jewish prayers:
The key to the understanding of the Lord’s Prayer is its simplicity and its brevity, as evidenced by the warning against verbosity and repetitions in prayer which precedes it in Matt. 6.7-8 (not also the substance of v. 8 in 5.32). It belongs to a genre of prayer called in Hebrew tephillah qezarah, “short prayer,” which, in tannaitic sources, designated a prayer to be recited in a place of danger. Unlike the Shemoneh Esreh, which is a set liturgical form, the “short prayer” has individuality and variety. The following are several examples of the genre.Rabbi Joshua says: “He who is traveling in a place of danger should pray a short prayer, saying, ‘Save, O Lord, the remnant of Your people at every crossroad [others: whenever they transgress], let their needs be before You. Blessed are You who hears prayer.’” [M.Ber. 4.4]
If one is traveling in a place of danger or of robbers, he should pray a short prayer. What is a short prayer? Rabbi Eleazar says: “Perform Your will in heaven and bestow satisfaction on earth upon those who revere You, and do that which is good in Your sight. Blessed are You who hears prayer.” [T. Ber. 3.2]
Rabbi Eleazar bar Zadok says: “hear the sound of the cry of Your people Israel and speedily grant their petition. Blessed are You who hears prayer.” [T.Ber. 3.2]
These ancient Jewish “arrow prayers” seem rather akin to the kind of things Hal Taussig suggests in his book. If the Paternoster is a compilation of classic short prayers attributed to Jesus, we may indeed be getting close to his own practice (whether as the author of the prayer fragments or simply an appreciative user of traditional phrases) as a Spirit person or prophetic sage whose way of praying was not constrained to formal opportunities and may even have been intentionally in opposition to the organized religion of his own society. (Of course, that latter description may be too much like seeing our own reflections in the bottom of the well ...)
SATOR-ROTAS word square
The SATOR-ROTAS has been thought to provide early evidence of the Lord's Prayer in Latin, but this remains under discussion.
Commentary
Jesus Seminar
The commentary in The Five Gospels reports on the judgments of the Seminar concerning each of the petitions:
Abba/Father - Luke preserves the earlier form while Matt expands it
Your name be revered - both Matt and Luke preserve the Q form
Impose your imperial rule - Matt expanded the Q petition into a couplet
Today's bread - Matt is closer to the Q form as the horizon is the same day
Sins/Debts - Luke has substituted "sins" for the original "debts"
Test after test - Matt again converts the petition into a couplet
Hal Taussig
In Jesus Before God. The Prayer Life of the Historical Jesus'. (Polebridge, 1999), Taussig develops his thesis that the Lord's Prayer is a collection of several prayer lines that were significant to the early Q community. His discussion of "Forgive us our debts" occurs on pages 89-92 and represents a good example of his argument. He concludes:
Situating this sentence prayer within its social context makes clear that it arose from certain specific situations in which Jesus found himself. It did not, within the lifetime of Jesus, belong to the Lord's Prayer, which was the product of the generations after Jesus. ... after Jesus was gone his followers in Galilee formulated a general prayer in his name, combining fragments from Jesus' own prayers with other material to create an institutionalized prayer in Jesus' name. As the various versions of this Lord's Prayer from the second half of the first century were passed on, the meanings of the individual prayer sentences were generalized and taken out of context. The sentence prayer about forgiveness made a gradual transition from forgiving one another's debts to forgiveness of sins.
Comments on specific petitions
- Abba/Father
- Your name be holy
- Impose your imperial rule
- Bread for today
- Forgiveness shared
- Save us from the time of trial
Poetry
The following poems originated as contributions to the Hodos online community by Gene Stecher. It is published with Gene's consent but he explicitly retains full rights as the creative author. You welcome to use it for personal study and worship, but it should not be published in any other form without the author's prior consent.
Abba
Abba on the lips of Jesus
Abba revered in human hearts
Abba ruling over his personal space
[Abba, a deaf ear for cup removing]
Abba, a distributor of bread
Abba, a manager of debt.Abba on the lips of followers
Abba, the inheritance grantor.
Abba, adopting from slave ranks
Abba, granting glory on condition
[Abba, retesting his children]
Abba, faithful to the sufferer.Revered Abba,
Create a freedom condition
[by our suffering, if it must be]
where principles for bread and debt
provide feasting for the hungry
and release for the debtor
as the daily norm.
Today's Bread
Mt 6:11
ton arton emon ton epiousion dos emin semeron the bread of us the necessary give us today the loaf daily this very day for following day for future POEM ONE
Give to starvers today the loaf which they need
Give it to them everyday, don't miss out on any.
Give to them tomorrow's loaf this very day.
Do you recall that your hired hands eat daily?[Lk 5:17]
Give starvers today what they need to survive.
Please add the twenty four hour insurance rider.
You know everything about insurance riders.
We possess quite a list from you very own lips.
The assassin tested his strength in advance.
The manager arranged for favors to be called in.
The widow constantly filled the judge's mind.
And woe to the pour slave burying your coins.[Th 98, Lk 16:1, Lk 18:2, Lk 19:13]
Insurance riders and expectations are similar,
And you are real good at creating expectations,
You who supply bread-seed to him who sows,
Who would give chilren loaves instead of stones.[2 Cor 9:10, Mt 7:10]
The leaven is supposed to do something,
some future greatness from the mustard seed.
The Sower's seed yearns for the harvest,
yet the stone of anxiety won't hurry that loaf[Lk 13:20, Th 20:2, Mk 4:26, Lk 12:25]
This child demands the insurance policy.
Jesus' screams from the cross demanded it.
The left over bread proves the possibility.
Get miracle dough at Mamre, not from rocks.[Mk 8:19, Gen 18, Mk 4:3]
Abuse us not with Patron whims and egos.
There's still potential in a healing-for-food trade.
Give the starvers food and they will heal you.
Reciprocity is not bound by the midnight hour.[Mk 6:8, Lk 11:5]
POEM TWO
An improvement upon JBap eating no bread,
Jesus himself the fleshy bread of life
recognized at the meal table while serving
loaves to unwashed field wanderers.[Lk 7:33, Jn 6:35, 51; 1 Cor 10:16, Lk 24:30, 35;
Jn 21:9, 13; Mk 2:26, 7:2]to generous children
to leading purity advocates
to kissing betrayers
to freed slaves[Jn 6:9, Lk 14:1, Jn 13:18, Jn 6:31]
Going from house to house
and leavening with one another is
more powerful than Pharisaic,
Sadducean, Herodian leavening.
This time, prostitutes and poor
are served by the toll collectors.[Acts 2:46, Mk 8:15, Mt 16:11]
Who was this damned fool who changed the policy,
"nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it,"[2 Thess 3:8]
Forgiveness for Forgiveness
In the Kingdom of Commandments
Creditor and debtor are equalized by the
divine scorched earth policy,
as they face down God's forgiving readiness,
mired together in law breaking
along with the people/priest,
slave/master,
maid/mistress,
buyer/seller,
lender/borrower.[Isa 24:2-3, Neh 9:17: NRSV]
In the Kingdom where God's finger rules,
look for grazing the edge of law breaking
to be admired for forgiving debt.
The disease that condemns to the jail pit
is not passing along the torch.[Lk 11:20, 16:8a; Mt 18:33]
Tax Collectors, "Charge official rates,"
but seeking Jesus' favor,
old Zach blurted out that
the poor could have half of his profits
and extortion returns
would be quadrupled.[Lk 3:13, 19:8]
Debt forgiveness requires community trust,
"Whomever you forgive,
I forgive."
Try your patience with up to seventy-seven
bestowals of freedom
to sin no more.[2 Cor 2:10, Mt 18:22, Jn 8:11]
Sin? I thought that we were talking about debt.
Now how is it that we've gone from debt to sin?
Well,
What's the easier thing to say to this paralytic,
"Your sins are forgiven," or,
" Here's the deed. I've just redeemed your land." **
And Zach spit through the needle's eye.[Mk 2:1-12, 10:25]
**Many thanks to Keith for sharing this definition of redemption with the group.
Save us from the time time of trial
Test? Temptation? Ordeal? Trial?
First you tempt me (Lk 4:1-13) with
making a change in the stone and bread laws,
daring my ego to splat on the temple floor,
and striving for power which enslaves nations.Then you entice me to
constantly associate with a very distrustful lot,
endure sign obsessed purity freaks,
and be baited with the language of entrapment.(Mk 4:40, 9:19; Mk 8:11; Mk 12:13)
Then you entwine me in pain and ecstasy:
Remove the drinking of this cup of
crucified agony and humiliation,
or
Do not rescue me from the hour of
glory to the name of the Father.(Mk 14:36, Jn 12:27-28)
And all along you knew Wisdom's desire:
Abandon me not to another's whim, and
do not send me into ruin.
Do not reject me from your children, and
desert me not in my ordeal.[The thoughts of HJ are interrupted.
The footsteps of the arrest party, Teacher.
Damn! Thy will be done on earth.
Delerious screams of a forsaken wretch.](Mk 15:34)
Fleeing from the tomb,
a blend of terror and excitement,
one's pants are wet
and soiled under either option,
a vague echo of the loss
of control required by God's test.(Mk 16:8)
What control must I relinquish to
be a bread distributor
make use of the temple
use power productively
embrace the untrusting
endure apocalypticism
avoid the fruitless debate
accept pain with victory.
Images
The following links may be of interest:
