Lord's Prayer

 

Today is Luke’s turn to teach and tell us the Lord’s Prayer.  Read aloud the New Revise Standard Version of how Luke includes and interprets the Jesus prayer from chapter 11, verses 1-4.

 

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” ² He said to them, “When you pray, say:

Father, hallowed be your name.
    Your kingdom come.
³     Give us each day our daily bread.
⁴     And forgive us our sins,
        for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
    And do not bring us to the time of trial.”

Pause with me.  What stuck out to you as you read this translation?  Did you notice and name the differences between this version and what we say typically on a Sunday morning?  Maybe something different from Matthew’s version or something the same?  Was there a phrase you found particularly meaningful in what you just said?

Now, same passage only this time from Tree of Life Version.  Note, this version uses Yeshua Hebrew for Joshua.  Which the Biblical nerd in me has to say that Jesus, is the GREEK form of Joshua/Yeshua.  Why we have left Jesus un-translated when every other Greek word we put into English, I am not sure.  But this might be helpful as you read.

Now Yeshua was praying in a certain place. When He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Master, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

² Then Yeshua said to them, “When you pray, say,

‘Father, sanctified be Your Name,
Your kingdom come.
³ Give us each day our daily bread.
⁴ And forgive us our sins,
    for we also forgive everyone indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”

What stood out or struck you?  What is different between the two versions?  What seems similar?  Try not to evaluate, rate, or rank one as better.  How can you appreciate and affirm the beauty in both translations?  Does this cause you to want to look at other versions?  Go ahead!  Let loose your inner detective on biblegateway.com to read several other translations.

Prayer: May each reading of the Luke’s version awaken a sense of the One who seeks a life-giving and life-changing relationship with you and all of us in these days.  Amen.