The Lord’s Prayer (Le Pater Noster), by James Tissot

The Lord’s Prayer, also known by its incipit Our Father (Greek: Πάτερ ἡμῶν, Latin: Pater Noster), is a central Christian prayer attributed to Jesus. It contains petitions to God focused on God’s holiness, will, and kingdom, as well as human needs, with variations across manuscripts and Christian traditions.

Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew, and a shorter form in the Gospel of Luke when "one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.’"[1] Scholars generally agree that the differences between the Matthaean and Lucan versions of the Lord’s Prayer reflect independent developments from a common source. The first-century text Didache (at chapter VIII) reports a version closely resembling that of Matthew and the modern prayer. It ends with the Minor Doxology.[2]

Theologians broadly view the Lord’s Prayer as a model that aligns the soul with God’s will, emphasizing praise, trust, and ethical living. The prayer is used by most Christian denominations in their worship and, with few exceptions, the liturgical form is the Matthean version. It has been set to music for use in liturgical services.

Since the 16th century, the Lord’s Prayer has been widely translated and collected to compare languages across regions and history. The Lord’s Prayer shares thematic and linguistic parallels with prayers and texts from various religious traditions—including the Hebrew Bible, Jewish post-biblical prayers, and ancient writings like the Dhammapada and the Epic of Gilgamesh—though some elements, such as "Lead us not into temptation," have unique theological nuances without direct Old Testament counterparts. Music from 9th century Gregorian chants to modern works by Christopher Tin has used the Lord’s Prayer in various religious and interfaith ceremonies.

The text of the Lord’s Prayer shown here is from the New International Version (NIV).

Matthew 6:9-13[3]	Luke 11:2-4[4]
Our Father in heaven,	Father, [Some manuscripts: ‘Our Father in heaven’]
hallowed be your name,	hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,	your kingdom come.
your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.	[Some manuscripts: ‘come. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’]
Give us today our daily bread.	Give us each day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.	Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. [Greek ‘everyone who is indebted to us’]
And lead us not into temptation, [The Greek for ‘temptation’ can also mean ‘testing’.] but deliver us from the evil one. [Or ‘from evil’]	And lead us not into temptation. [Some manuscripts: ‘temptation, but deliver us from the evil one’]
[some late manuscripts ‘one, / for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]

Initial words on the topic from the Catechism of the Catholic Church teach that it "is truly the summary of the whole gospel".[5]

The first three of the seven petitions in Matthew address God; the other four are related to human needs and concerns. Matthew’s account alone includes the "Your will be done" and the "Rescue us from the evil one" (or "Deliver us from evil") petitions. Both original Greek texts contain the adjective epiousion; while controversial, ‘daily’ has been the most common English-language translation of this word. Protestants usually conclude the prayer with a doxology (in some versions, "For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever, Amen"), a later addition appearing in some manuscripts of Matthew. The Eastern Orthodox version is: For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory: of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Relationship between the Matthaean and Lucan texts

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In biblical criticism, the absence of the Lord’s Prayer in the Gospel of Mark, together with its occurrence in Matthew and Luke, has caused scholars who accept the two-source hypothesis (against other document hypotheses) to conclude that it is probably a logion original to the Q source.[6] According to W.D. Davies and Dale Allison, it is also possible than one version was present in Q and another from the M source or the L source, though they do not view the notion that Luke’s version used Matthew as plausible.[7] The common source of the two existing versions, whether Q or an oral or another written tradition, was elaborated differently in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.

Marianus Pale Hera considers it unlikely that either of the two used the other as its source and that it is possible that they "preserve two versions of the Lord’s Prayer used in two different communities: the Matthean in a Jewish Christian community and the Lucan in the Gentile Christian community".[8] Davies and Allison find this theory to be possible as well.[9]

If either source built on the other, Joachim Jeremias attributes priority to Matthew on the grounds that "in the early period, before wordings were fixed, liturgical texts were elaborated, expanded and enriched".[10] On the other hand, Michael Goulder, Thomas J. Mosbo and Ken Olson see the shorter Lucan version as a reworking of the Matthaean text, removing unnecessary verbiage and repetition.[11]

The Matthaean version is the one most common in general Christian usage.[12]

Liturgical text	Codex Vaticanus text	Didache text[13]
πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς	πατερ ημων ο εν τοις ουρανοις	πατερ ημων ο εν τω ουρανω
ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου	αγιασθητω το ονομα σου	αγιασθητω το ονομα σου
ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου	ελθετω η βασιλεια σου	ελθετω η βασιλεια σου
γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς	γενηθητω το θελημα σου ως εν ουρανω και επι γης	γενηθητω το θελημα σου ως εν ουρανω και επι γης
τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον	τον αρτον ημων τον επιουσιον δος ημιν σημερον	τον αρτον ημων τον επιουσιον δος ημιν σημερον
καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰ ὀφειλήματα ἡμῶν ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφίεμεν τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν	και αφες ημιν τα οφειληματα ημων ως και ημεις αφηκαμεν τοις οφειλεταις ημων	και αφες ημιν την οφειλην ημων ως και ημεις αφιεμεν τοις οφειλεταις ημων
καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ	και μη εισενεγκης ημας εις πειρασμον αλλα ρυσαι ημας απο του πονηρου	και μη εισενεγκης ημας εις πειρασμον αλλα ρυσαι ημας απο του πονηρου

The majority percentage of the verbs are aorist imperatives. In the first part of the prayer there are third person passive imperatives, while in the last one there are second person active imperatives.[14]

Original Greek text and Syriac and Latin translations

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Standard edition of the Greek text

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The text given here is that of the latest edition of Greek New Testament of the United Bible Societies and in the Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece.[15] Most modern translations use a text similar to this one. Most older translations are based on a Byzantine-type text with ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς in line 5 (verse 10) instead of ἐπὶ γῆς, and ἀφίεμεν in line 8 (verse 12) instead of ἀφήκαμεν, and adding at the end (verse 13) the doxology ὅτι σοῦ ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία καὶ ἡ δύναμις καὶ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. ἀμήν.

1. πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς*(páter hēmôn ho en toîs ouranoîs)*
2. ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου*(hagiasthḗtō tò ónomá sou)*
3. ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου*(elthétō hē basileía sou)*
4. γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς*(genēthḗtō tò thélēmá sou hōs en ouranô(i) kaì epì gês)*
5. τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον*(tòn árton hēmôn tòn epioúsion dòs hēmîn sḗmeron)*
6. καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰ ὀφειλήματα ἡμῶν ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφήκαμεν τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν*(kaì áphes hēmîn tà opheilḗmata hēmôn hōs kaì hēmeîs aphḗkamen toîs opheilétais hēmôn)*
7. καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ*(kaì mḕ eisenénkēis hēmâs eis peirasmón allà rhŷsai hēmâs apò toû ponēroû)*

Standard edition of the Syriac text of the Peshitta

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The Classical Syriac vowels here transcribed as "ê", "ā" and "o/ō" have been raised to "i", "o" and "u" respectively in Western Syriac.[16]

1. ܐܒ݂ܘܢ ܕ̇ܒ݂ܫܡܝܐ‎*(ʾăḇūn d-ḇa-šmayyā)*
2. ܢܬ݂ܩܕ݁ܫ ܫܡܟ݂‎*(neṯqaddaš šmāḵ)*
3. ܬ݁ܐܬ݂ܐ ܡܠܟ݁ܘܬ݂ܟ݂‎*(têṯē malkūṯāḵ)*
4. ܢܗܘܐ ܨܒ݂ܝܢܟ݂ ܐܝܟ݁ܢܐ ܕ݂ܒ݂ܫܡܝܐ ܐܦ݂ ܒ݁ܐܪܥܐ‎*(nēhwē ṣeḇyānāḵ ʾaykannā ḏ-ḇa-šmayyā ʾāp̄ b-ʾarʿā)*
5. ܗܒ݂ ܠܢ ܠܚܡܐ ܕ݂ܣܘܢܩܢܢ ܝܘܡܢܐ‎*(haḇ lan laḥmā ḏ-sūnqānan yawmānā)*
6. ܘܫܒ݂ܘܩ ܠܢ ܚܘ̈ܒ݁ܝܢ ܐܝܟܢܐ ܕ݂ܐܦ݂ ܚܢܢ ܫܒ݂ܩܢ ܠܚܝ̈ܒ݂ܝܢ‎*(wa-šḇoq lan ḥawbayn ʾaykannā ḏ-ʾāp̄ ḥnan šḇaqn l-ḥayyāḇayn)*
7. ܘܠܐ ܬ݂ܥܠܢ ܠܢܣܝܘܢܐ ܐܠܐ ܦ݂ܨܢ ܡܢ ܒ݁ܝܫܐ‎*(w-lā ṯaʿlan l-nesyōnā ʾellā p̄aṣṣān men bīšā)*

Vulgata Clementina (1692)

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There are four editions of the Vulgate:[17] the Sixtine Vulgate, the Sixto-Clementine Vulgate, the Nova Vulgata, and the Stuttgart Vulgate. The Clementine edition varies from the Nova Vulgata in this place only in punctuation and in having "ne nos inducas" in place of "ne inducas nos". The Stuttgart Vulgate has "qui in caelis es" in place of "qui es in caelis"; "veniat" in place of "adveniat"; "dimisimus" in place of "dimittimus"; and "temptationem" in place of "tentationem".

1. pater noster qui es in cælis
2. sanctificetur nomen tuum
3. adveniat regnum tuum
4. fiat voluntas tua sicut in cælo et in terra
5. panem nostrum supersubstantialem da nobis hodie
6. et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris
7. et ne nos inducas in tentationem sed libera nos a malo[a]

The doxology associated with the Lord’s Prayer in Byzantine Greek texts is found in four Vetus Latina manuscripts, only two of which give it in its entirety. The other surviving manuscripts of the Vetus Latina Gospels do not have the doxology. The Vulgate translation also does not include it, thus agreeing with critical editions of the Greek text.

Liturgical texts: Greek, Syriac, Latin

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The Lord’s Prayer (Latin liturgical text) with Gregorian chant annotation

The Lord’s Prayer sung in Gregorian chant

Patriarchal Edition 1904[c] Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου, ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου, γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰ ὀφειλήματα ἡμῶν, ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφίεμεν τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν. καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν, ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ.	Syriac liturgical ܐܒ݂ܘܢ ܕ݁ܒ݂ܫܡܝܐ‎ (our father who art in heaven) ܢܬ݂ܩܕ݁ܫ ܫܡܟ݂‎ (hallowed be thy name) ܬ݁ܐܬ݂ܐ ܡܠܟ݁ܘܬ݂ܟ݂‎ (thy kingdom come) ܢܗܘܐ ܨܒ݂ܝܢܟ݂ ܐܝܟ݁ܢܐ ܕ݂ܒ݂ܫܡܝܐ ܐܦ݂ ܒ݁ܐܪܥܐ‎ (thy will be done as it is in heaven also on earth) ܗܒ݂ ܠܢ ܠܚܡܐ ܕ݂ܣܘܢܩܢܢ ܝܘܡܢܐ‎ (give us the bread of our need this day)[d] ܘܫܒ݂ܘܩ ܠܢ ܚܘ̈ܒ݁ܝܢ ܘܚܛܗ̈ܝܢ ܐܝܟ݁ܢܐ ܕ݂ܐܦ݂ ܚܢܢ ܫܒ݂ܩܢ ܠܚܝ̈ܒ݂ܝܢ‎ (and forgive us our debts and our sins as we have forgiven our debtors)[e] ܘܠܐ ܬ݂ܥܠܢ ܠܢܣܝܘܢܐ ܐܠܐ ܦ݂ܨܢ ܡܢ ܒ݁ܝܫܐ‎ (and bring us not into temptation but deliver us from evil)[f][18] ܡܛܠ ܕ݁ܕ݂ܝܠܟ݂ ܗ̄ܝ ܡܠܟ݁ܘܬ݂ܐ ܚܝܠܐ ܬ݂ܫܒ݁ܘܚܬ݁ܐ ܠܥܠܡ ܥܠܡܝܢ ܐܡܝܢ‎ (for thine is the kingdom the power the glory for an age of ages amen)[g][h]	Roman Missal[19][i] Pater noster qui es in cælis: sanctificétur nomen tuum; advéniat regnum tuum; fiat volúntas tua, sicut in cælo, et in terra. Panem nostrum cotidiánum[j] da nobis hódie; et dimítte nobis débita nostra, sicut et nos dimíttimus debitóribus nostris; et ne nos indúcas in tentatiónem; sed líbera nos a malo.

Lord’s Prayer from the 1845 illuminated book of The Sermon on the Mount, designed by Owen Jones

There are several different English translations of the Lord’s Prayer from Greek or Latin, beginning around AD 650 with the Northumbrian translation. Of those in current liturgical use, the three best-known are:

• The translation in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer (BCP) of the Church of England
• The slightly modernized "traditional ecumenical" form used in the Catholic,[20] and (often with doxology) in many Protestant Churches[21]
• The 1988 translation of the ecumenical English Language Liturgical Consultation (ELLC)

All these versions are based on the text in Matthew, rather than Luke, of the prayer given by Jesus.

Book of Common Prayer, 1662

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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 trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass 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.

Traditional ecumenical version

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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 trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Most Protestants conclude with the doxology: For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. (or ...forever. Amen.)

At Mass in the Catholic Church the embolism is followed by: For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and for ever.

— Traditional ecumenical version[23][24][25][26]

1988 English Language Liturgical Consultation

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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.

The concluding doxology ("For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory for ever") is representative of the practice of concluding prayers with a short, hymn-like verse that exalts the glory of God. Older English translations of the Bible, based on late Byzantine Greek manuscripts, included it, but it is absent in the oldest manuscripts and is not considered to be part of the original text of Matthew 6:9–13.[29] The translators of the 1611 King James Bible assumed that a Greek manuscript they possessed was ancient and therefore adopted the text into the Lord’s Prayer of the Gospel of Matthew. The use of the doxology in English dates from at least 1549 with the First Prayer Book of Edward VI which was influenced by William Tyndale’s New Testament translation in 1526.

In the Byzantine Rite, whenever a priest is officiating, after the Lord’s Prayer he intones this augmented form of the doxology, "For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory: of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages.",[k] and in either instance, reciter(s) of the prayer reply "Amen".

The Catholic Latin liturgical rites have never attached the doxology to the end of the Lord’s Prayer. The doxology does appear in the Roman Rite Mass as revised in 1969. After the conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer, the priest says a prayer known as the embolism. In the official International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) English translation, the embolism reads: "Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil, graciously grant peace in our days, that, by the help of your mercy, we may be always free from sin and safe from all distress, as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ." This elaborates on the final petition, "Deliver us from evil." The people then respond to this with the doxology: "For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever."[23]

The Lord’s Prayer in Greek

Augustine of Hippo gives the following analysis of the Lord’s Prayer, which elaborates on Jesus’ words just before it in the Gospel of Matthew: "Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then in this way" (Matthew 6:8–9):[30]

We need to use words (when we pray) so that we may remind ourselves to consider carefully what we are asking, not so that we may think we can instruct the Lord or prevail on him. When we say: "Hallowed be your name", we are reminding ourselves to desire that his name, which in fact is always holy, should also be considered holy among men. [...] But this is a help for men, not for God. [...] And as for our saying: "Your kingdom come," it will surely come whether we will it or not. But we are stirring up our desires for the kingdom so that it can come to us and we can deserve to reign there. [...] When we say: "Deliver us from evil," we are reminding ourselves to reflect on the fact that we do not yet enjoy the state of blessedness in which we shall suffer no evil. [...] It was very appropriate that all these truths should be entrusted to us to remember in these very words. Whatever be the other words we may prefer to say (words which the one praying chooses so that his disposition may become clearer to himself or which he simply adopts so that his disposition may be intensified), we say nothing that is not contained in the Lord’s Prayer, provided of course we are praying in a correct and proper way.

This excerpt from Augustine is included in the Office of Readings in the Catholic Liturgy of the Hours.[31]

Many have written biblical commentaries on the Lord’s Prayer.[32][33][34][35] Contained below are a variety of selections from some of those commentaries.

This subheading and those that follow use the 1662 Book of Common Prayer (BCP) (see above)

Our Father, which art in heaven

"Our" indicates that the prayer is that of a group of people who consider themselves children of God and who call God their "Father". "In heaven" indicates that the Father who is addressed is distinct from human fathers on earth.[36]

Augustine interpreted "heaven" (coelum, sky) in this context as meaning "in the hearts of the righteous, as it were in His holy temple".[37]

Hallowed be thy Name;

Former archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams explains this phrase as a petition that people may look upon God’s name as holy, as something that inspires awe and reverence, and that they may not trivialize it by making God a tool for their purposes, to "put other people down, or as a sort of magic to make themselves feel safe". He sums up the meaning of the phrase by saying: "Understand what you’re talking about when you’re talking about God, this is serious, this is the most wonderful and frightening reality that we could imagine, more wonderful and frightening than we can imagine."[38]

Richard Challoner writes that: "[t]his petition claims the first place in the Lord’s prayer [...]; because the first and principal duty of a Christian is, to love his God with his whole heart and soul, and therefore the first and principal thing he ought to desire and pray for is, the great honor and glory of God."[39]

Thy kingdom come;

"This petition has its parallel in the Jewish prayer, ‘May he establish his Kingdom during your life and during your days.’"[40] In the gospels Jesus speaks frequently of God’s kingdom, but never defines the concept: "He assumed this was a concept so familiar that it did not require definition."[41] Concerning how Jesus’ audience in the gospels would have understood him, George Eldon Ladd turns to the concept’s Hebrew biblical background: "The Hebrew word malkuth [...] refers first to a reign, dominion, or rule and only secondarily to the realm over which a reign is exercised. [...] When malkuth is used of God, it almost always refers to his authority or to his rule as the heavenly King."[42] This petition looks to the perfect establishment of God’s rule in the world in the future, an act of God resulting in the eschatological order of the new age.[43]

The Catholic Church believes that, by praying the Lord’s prayer, a Christian hastens the Second Coming.[44] Like the church, some denominations see the coming of God’s kingdom as a divine gift to be prayed for, not a human achievement. Others believe that the Kingdom will be fostered by the hands of those faithful who work for a better world. These believe that Jesus’ commands to feed the hungry and clothe the needy make the seeds of the kingdom already present on earth (Lk 8:5–15; Mt 25:31–40).

Hilda C. Graef notes that the operative Greek word, basileia, means both kingdom and kingship (i.e., reign, dominion, governing, etc.), but that the English word kingdom loses this double meaning.[45] Kingship adds a psychological meaning to the petition: one is also praying for the condition of soul where one follows God’s will.

Richard Challoner, commenting on this petition, notes that the kingdom of God can be understood in three ways: 1) of the eternal kingdom of God in heaven. 2) of the spiritual kingdom of Christ, in his Church upon earth. 3) of the mystical kingdom of God, in our souls, according to the words of Christ, "The kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21).[46]

Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven:

According to William Barclay, this phrase is a couplet with the same meaning as "Thy kingdom come". Barclay argues that "the kingdom is a state of things on earth in which God’s will is as perfectly done as it is in heaven. ...To do the will of God and to be in the Kingdom of God are one and the same thing."[47]

John Ortberg interprets this phrase as follows: "Many people think our job is to get my afterlife destination taken care of, then tread water till we all get ejected and God comes back and torches this place. But Jesus never told anybody – neither his disciples nor us – to pray, ‘Get me out of here so I can go up there.’ His prayer was, ‘Make up there come down here.’ Make things down here run the way they do up there."[48] Stephen Cottrell makes the same point in his reflections on "Thy Kingdom Come": "the promise of the gospel isn’t really us going up to heaven, but heaven coming down to earth".[49] The request that "thy will be done" is God’s invitation to "join him in making things down here the way they are up there".[48]

Give us this day our daily [epiousion] bread;

As mentioned earlier, the original word ἐπιούσιος (epiousion), commonly characterized as daily, is unique to the Lord’s Prayer in all of ancient Greek literature. The word is almost a hapax legomenon, occurring only in Luke and Matthew’s versions of the Lord’s Prayer, and nowhere else in any other extant Greek texts. While epiousion is often substituted by the word "daily", all other New Testament translations from the Greek into "daily" otherwise reference hemeran (ἡμέραν, "the day"), which does not appear in this usage.[citation needed]

Jerome by linguistic parsing translated "ἐπιούσιον" (epiousion) as "supersubstantialem" in the Gospel of Matthew, but as "cotidianum" ("daily") in the Gospel of Luke. This wide-ranging difference with respect to meaning of epiousion is discussed in detail in the current Catechism of the Catholic Church in an inclusive approach toward tradition as well as a literal one for meaning: "Taken in a temporal sense, this word is a pedagogical repetition of ‘this day’, to confirm us in trust ‘without reservation’. Taken in the qualitative sense, it signifies what is necessary for life, and more broadly every good thing sufficient for subsistence. Taken literally (epi-ousios: ‘super-essential’), it refers directly to the Bread of Life, the Body of Christ, the ‘medicine of immortality,’ without which we have no life within us."[50]

Epiousion is translated as supersubstantialem in the Vulgate Matthew 6:11[51] and accordingly as supersubstantial in the Douay–Rheims Bible Matthew 6:11.[52]

Barclay M. Newman’s A Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament, published in a revised edition in 2010 by the United Bible Societies, has the following entry:

ἐπι|ούσιος, ον (εἰμί) of doubtful meaning, for today; for the coming day; necessary for existence.[53]

It thus derives the word from the preposition ἐπί (epi) and the verb εἰμί (eimi), from the latter of which are derived words such as οὐσία (ousia), the range of whose meanings is indicated in A Greek–English Lexicon.[54]

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us;

Although Matthew 6:12 uses the term debts, most older English versions of the Lord’s Prayer use the term trespasses, while ecumenical versions often use the term sins. The last choice may be due to Luke 11:4,[55] which uses the word sins, while the former may be due to Matthew 6:14 (immediately after the text of the prayer), where Jesus speaks of trespasses. As early as the third century, Origen of Alexandria used the word trespasses (παραπτώματα) in the prayer.

The Latin form that was traditionally used in Western Europe has debita (debts), but most English-speaking Christians (except Scottish Presbyterians and some others of the Dutch Reformed tradition) use trespasses.[56] For example, the Church of Scotland, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Reformed Church in America, as well as some Congregational heritage churches in the United Church of Christ follow the version found in Matthew 6 in the King James Version (KJV), which in the prayer uses the words debts and debtors.

The Presbyterian and other Reformed churches tend to use the rendering "forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors". Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans and Methodists are more likely to say "trespasses... those who trespass against us".[57]

The "debts" form appears in the first English translation of the Bible, by John Wycliffe in 1395 (Wycliffe spelling "dettis"). The "trespasses" version appears in the 1526 translation by William Tyndale (Tyndale spelling "treaspases"). In 1549 the first Book of Common Prayer in English used a version of the prayer with "trespasses". This became the "official" version used in Anglican congregations. On the other hand, the 1611 King James Version, the version specifically authorized for the Church of England, has "forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors".

After the request for bread, Matthew and Luke diverge slightly. Matthew continues with a request for debts to be forgiven in the same manner as people have forgiven those who have debts against them. Luke, on the other hand, makes a similar request about sins being forgiven in the manner of debts being forgiven between people. The word "debts" (ὀφειλήματα) does not necessarily mean financial obligations, as shown by the use of the verbal form of the same word (ὀφείλετε) in passages such as Romans 13:8.[58] The Aramaic word ḥôbâ can mean "debt" or "sin".[59][60] This difference between Luke’s and Matthew’s wording could be explained by the original form of the prayer having been in Aramaic. The generally accepted interpretation is thus that the request is for forgiveness of sin, not of supposed loans granted by God.[61] Asking for forgiveness from God was a staple of Jewish prayers (e.g., Penitential Psalms). It was also considered proper for individuals to be forgiving of others, so the sentiment expressed in the prayer would have been a common one of the time.[citation needed]

Anthony C. Deane, Canon of Worcester Cathedral, suggested that the choice of the word "ὀφειλήματα" (debts), rather than "ἁμαρτίας" (sins), indicates a reference to failures to use opportunities of doing good. He linked this with the parable of the sheep and the goats (also in Matthew’s Gospel), in which the grounds for condemnation are not wrongdoing in the ordinary sense, but failure to do right, missing opportunities for showing love to others.[62][63]

"As we forgive ...". Divergence between Matthew’s "debts" and Luke’s "sins" is relatively trivial compared to the impact of the second half of this statement. The verses immediately following the Lord’s Prayer, Matthew 6:14–15[64] show Jesus teaching that the forgiveness of our sin/debt (by God) is linked with how we forgive others, as in the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant Matthew 18:23–35,[65] which Matthew gives later. R. T. France comments:

The point is not so much that forgiving is a prior condition of being forgiven, but that forgiving cannot be a one-way process. Like all God’s gifts it brings responsibility; it must be passed on. To ask for forgiveness on any other basis is hypocrisy. There can be no question, of course, of our forgiving being in proportion to what we are forgiven, as 18:23–35 makes clear.

— R. T. France, The Gospel According to Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary[66]

And lead us not into temptation,

Interpretations of the penultimate petition of the prayer – not to be led by God into peirasmos – vary considerably. The range of meanings of the Greek word "πειρασμός" (peirasmos) is illustrated in New Testament Greek lexicons.[67] In different contexts it can mean temptation, testing, trial, experiment. Although the traditional English translation uses the word "temptation" and Carl Jung saw God as actually leading people astray,[68] Christians generally interpret the petition as not contradicting James 1:13–14: "Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God’, for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire."[69] Some see the petition as an eschatological appeal against unfavourable Last Judgment, a theory supported by the use of the word "peirasmos" in this sense in Revelation 3:10.[70] Others see it as a plea against hard tests described elsewhere in scripture, such as those of Job.[l] It is also read as: "Do not let us be led (by ourselves, by others, by Satan) into temptations". Tertullian comments: "For the completeness of so brief a prayer He added — in order that we should supplicate not touching the remitting merely, but touching the entire averting, of acts of guilt — Lead us not into temptation: that is, suffer us not to be led into it, by him (of course) who tempts; but far be the thought that the Lord should seem to tempt, as if He either were ignorant of the faith of any, or else were eager to overthrow it. Infirmity and malice are characteristics of the Devil...The final clause, therefore, is consonant, and interprets the sense of Lead us not into temptation; for this sense is, But convey us away from the Evil One." (On Prayer, Ch. VIII)[71][72] Coherently, Saint Cyprian of Carthago translates Matthew 6:9 as follows: And suffer us not to be led into temptation; but deliver us from evil. (On the Lord’s Prayer, n. 7)[73]

Since it follows shortly after a plea for daily bread (i.e., material sustenance), it is also seen as referring to not being caught up in the material pleasures given. A similar phrase appears in Matthew 26:41[74] and Luke 22:40[75] in connection with the prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane.[76]

Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, in a version of the Holy Bible which was not published before his death, used: "And suffer us not to be led into temptation".[77]

In a conversation on the Italian TV channel TV2000 on 6 December 2017, Pope Francis commented that the then Italian wording of this petition (similar to the traditional English) was a poor translation. He said "the French" (i.e., the Bishops’ Conference of France) had changed the petition to "Do not let us fall in/into temptation". He was referring to the 2017 change to a new French version, Et ne nous laisse pas entrer en tentation ("Do not let us enter into temptation"), but spoke of it in terms of the Spanish translation, no nos dejes caer en la tentación ("do not let us fall in/into temptation"), that he was accustomed to recite in [Argentina](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_in_Argenti