Some claim that the Pater Noster is taken from the third, fifth, sixth, ninth, and fifteenth blessings of the Amidah, or Shemoneh Esrei, the central prayer of the synagogue liturgy, which is recited by observant Jews three times a day. Certainly there are similarities. I have seen it claimed that Rabbi Yeshua was not the only itinerant Rabbi who taught a "boiled-down" version of the Amidah at that time. I'll take no position on these claims, since I haven't had time to research them. What I will say is that the Pater Noster (let's start calling it the Avinu) is very, very striking in Hebrew.
Avinu shebashamayim yitkadash shmecha
"Yitkadash shmecha." Let Your name be made holy. Because from this blessing all the others will flow. A world in which the Name is revered and respected, will be a world in which all Life is revered and respected, and in which we respect each other. It is a path to a better world.
Tavo malchutecha
May your kingdom come. (Replacing the rule of unethical imposters and usurpers who poison our existence because of their greed and lust for power.)
Yeaseh ritzoncha kmo bashamayim ken baaretz
May your will be done as in the heavens, so also on the earth.
Et-lechem chuqenu ten-lanu hayom
Give us this day our daily bread
Us'lach-lanu et-chovotenu kaasher salachnu gam-anachnu l'chayavenu
Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors
V'al-t'viyenu liydey nisayon kiy im-chaltzenu min-hara'
And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil,
[Kiy l'cha hamamlakhah v'hag'vurah v'hatipheret l'ol'mey olamiym] amen
[for Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.] Amen.
That is well and good, but we are now in a position to determine the original form of the prayer, as taught by Rabbi Yeshua.
As George Howard points out on p. 202 of Hebrew Gospel of Matthew, the Shaprut Hebrew Matthew and the oldest and best manuscripts of Luke agree that "who art in heaven" was not originally part of the prayer, According to my hypothesis, Luke used an early form of Matthew (Matthew I), which was probably written in Hebrew, for the sayings portion of his Gospel. Thus, although Matthew I has not survived, it is reflected in Luke. The Shaprut Hebrew Matthew reflects Matthew II, an intermediate form of Matthew. So, if we want to see the original form of the Lord's Prayer, or Avinu, the best that we can do is to go to Luke XI:2. In the RSV, it goes like this:
Father, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread;
and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone
who is indebted to us.
and lead us not into temptation.
Here is how it sounds in Hebrew, in the Salkinson translation:
avinu yitkadash shmecha
tavo malchutecha
ten-lanu lechem chukenu yom b'yomo.
us'lach lanu et-ashmoteynu
ki gam-anachnu solchim l'kol-asher
asham lanu
v'al-t'viyenu liy'dey nisayon.
And here's how it looks in Hebrew, in the form given in the Shaprut Hebrew Matthew, reflecting Matthew II, which is still older than canonical Matthew (Matthew III):
אבינו יתקדש שמך ויתברך מלכותך רצונך יהיה עשוי בשמיםובארץ ׃
ותתן לחמנו תמידית ׃
ומחול לנו חטאתינו כאשר אנחנו מוחלים לחוטאים לנו
ואל תביאנו לידי נסיון ושמרינו מכל רע אמן ׃
The best texts of Luke just say "Father," but here we are back to "Our Father," which is also how Salkinson translated the Luke. Other than that, the main difference between this and Luke is that it says "may your name be sanctified; may your kingdom be blessed." This makes for a more beautiful parallelism. I prefer it for this reason, and also because, as we are told in the Gospel of Thomas, the kingdom of heaven is already among us.
(to be continued)
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