6:10a
Your kingdom come: The clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Your kingdom come has a similar structure to the previous clause. It is a prayer that expresses a desire that God’s kingdom will come.
Here is another way to translate this clause:
may your kingdom come (NET Bible)
Most scholars agree that this prayer refers to more than one aspect of God’s kingdom/rule. This is a prayer that:
(a) God will truly rule now in the lives of his people
(b) God’s rule will be extended over more and more people
(c) God’s rule will be established in the future over all the earth
If possible, you should translate in a way that allows for all these meanings.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
Cause your kingdom/chieftaincy to be established
-or-
May you rule ⌊everyone/everywhere⌋
-or-
We pray that you will rule ⌊over all people⌋
-or-
May the time begin/arrive for you to rule as king
See “kingdom of heaven” in the note on 5:3b.
6:10b
Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven: The clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Your will be done has a similar structure to the previous clause. It is a prayer that expresses a desire that God’s will/desires will be done.
Here is another way to translate this clause:
may what you want to be done, happen on earth just as it happens in heaven
The word will refers here to “what one wishes to happen.” God has made known his will primarily through his word, which reveals his commands and purposes. The prayer is that people who live on earth will do God’s will just as those who live in heaven do his will.
This clause is passive. In some languages it is more natural to translate this as an active clause. For example:
May those ⌊who live⌋ in this world do your will just as those ⌊who live⌋ in heaven ⌊do it⌋.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
may everyone on earth obey you, as you are obeyed in heaven
-or-
⌊we pray that⌋ everyone on earth will obey you just like those in heaven obey you
© 2023 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.