Expanded Translation of The Lord's Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer

Expanded Translation

By Karen L. Oberst

Our heavenly Parent, may you be reverenced because of who you are.

May your kingdom come into being through us, as citizens of the kingdom.

May your will be carried out by human beings as it is all over the created universe.

Give us what we need for today, both physically and spiritually.

Don’t hold us accountable for our moral lapses, even as we also don’t hold others accountable when they don’t treat us as they should.

Don’t bring us into a place where we are tempted to do wrong, but protect us from the one intending evil.

(“The Authorized or King James Version adds, ‘For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.’ This version of the Bible was translated in the 1600’s when only a single Greek manuscript of the Bible existed, the Tischendorf manuscript. Other, older manuscripts that do not contain this phrase have since been found. Scholars believe this phrase was not originally part of the Lord’s Prayer, and was likely added when these verses were used in the corporate prayer life of the early church.”)

Oberst, Karen L. But I Tell You: Jesus Introduces a Better Way to Live. Newberg, Oregon: Barclay Press, 2007. 137-138.

This is the book we are still reading about the Sermon on the Mount in the Wisdom Class, our weekly reading group at All Saints Episcopal Church.