Matthew 6:9-13
Bible verses · Also called: Matthew 6:9-13, The Lord's Prayer, Our Father, Our Father which art in heaven, Pater Noster
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9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 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.
The text is the New Korean Revised Version (1998), shown under a licence from the Korean Bible Society. Wording may differ slightly from the Korean Revised Version and the Revised New Korean Standard Version. Read in the Korean Revised Version
This passage contains the prayer Jesus taught his disciples, which the church recites together as the Lord's Prayer. Discussion of the passage addresses how its form differs from the version in Luke, the absence of the closing doxology from the oldest manuscripts, and the translation of several of its words.
Context
The passage belongs to the teaching on almsgiving, prayer, and fasting (Matthew 6:1-18) within the Sermon on the Mount. After warning against praying to be seen by others and against the vain repetitions of the heathen, Jesus gives this prayer with the words "After this manner therefore pray ye." A shorter form appears in Luke 11:2-4, where it is given in response to the disciples' request that he teach them to pray.
Interpretation
The prayer is commonly understood as an address to God as "Our Father," followed by three petitions concerning God's name, kingdom, and will, and three petitions concerning daily bread, forgiveness, and deliverance from temptation and evil.
- As a model of prayer: The prayer is read both as a text to be recited as it stands and as a pattern that teaches the order and content of all prayer.
- As an eschatological prayer: This reading places "Thy kingdom come" at the center and understands the prayer as that of a community awaiting the consummation of the kingdom of God.
- Individual words: "Daily" (epiousios) is a rare word found only in the New Testament, and it has been interpreted in several ways, including "needed for today" and "for tomorrow." "From evil" can also be rendered "from the evil one."
Debates and Issues
- The manuscript question of the doxology: The closing words "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever" are absent from the oldest major manuscripts and appear in later ones. For this reason, modern translations place them in brackets or relegate them to a footnote. A common view is that a doxology appended to the prayer in early Christian worship made its way into the text. In the Catholic Mass, the Lord's Prayer concludes without the doxology, which is offered separately after an intervening prayer by the priest.
- "Lead us not into temptation": Some have objected that the phrase can be read as though God leads people into temptation. In the Catholic Church, Pope Francis addressed this issue, and Catholic liturgical texts in some languages have been revised to wording closer to "do not let us fall into temptation." Protestants generally retain the traditional wording, explaining "temptation" as encompassing both enticement and trial.
- In Korea, both the older and the newer translations of the Lord's Prayer are in use, so the wording varies slightly from church to church.
Related Passages
- Luke 11:2-4
- Matthew 6:5-8
- John 17:1-26
- James 1:13
See also 6
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