The Greek that is translated as “our daily bread” or similar in most English versions was translated in the Catholic English Douay-Rheims version (publ. 1582) as “our supersubstantial bread.”
In the Kölsch translation (Boch 2017) it is translated as wat mer Minsche zum Levve bruche or “what us humans need for sustenance.” (Source: Jost Zetzsche)
In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) it is translated as das Brot für den kommenenden Tag or “the breads for the day ahead.”
In French, the phrase pain quotidien (“daily bread”) is used as an idiom for daily necessities or daily-occurring events or experiences. (Source: Muller 1991, p. 18)
The Lord’s Prayer was translated into Nyulnyul (and back-translated into English) by the German missionary Hermann Nekes in 1939.
It reads:
Our Father on top sky.
Thy name be feared.
Thou art our boss.
Men-women will listen to Thee this place earth
as the good souls of men-women listen to Thee on top sky.
Give us tucker till this sun goes down.
We did wrong; make us good.
We have good hearts to them who did us wrong.
Watch us against bad place.
Thy hands be stretched out to guard us from bad.
Our Father, high in your Holy Place,
your name is holy.
Let the day come
when you reign as King in our land.
We want you to become Boss of our land,
the same way you are Boss of your Holy Land.
Give us the food we eat every day.
Forgive our wrong-doing
the same way we forgive the wrong-doing people do to us.
And do not take us to the hard place of testing.
But hold us so the Devil cannot get us.
You hold the land.
You hold the power.
You hold the light.
For ever and for ever.
Amen.
Source: Bardip Ruth-Ang 2020
The following is a back-translation from Ma’anyan:
So pray [and say]: Our father who [is] in heaven:
You are the only God.
May you be worshiped and respected.
You are our King, you rule on earth, and your will be obeyed as in heaven.
Give to us today the food that we need.
Forgive us from wrong as we forgive people’s wrongs against us.
Do not let us lose faith when we are tempted
but set us free from the power of that evil one.
You [are the] king of power and glory until forever.
Amen.
Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, translators typically select the exclusive form (excluding God).
Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.
This story of the translation of a new version of the Bible in Kwara’ae illustrates the importance and the problem of this, especially in this verse: “It is necessary to distinguish in Melanesian languages between the inclusive and exclusive first person plural pronoun. For example in, ‘We must go soon or we will lose the tide,’ ‘we’ here includes the persons addressed. But in, ‘Wait, and we will be with you soon,’ ‘we’ here excludes the persons addressed. Two different pronouns are used. Early missionaries, not knowing this, used the inclusive form in the Lord’s Prayer, ‘Forgive us our trespasses (yours and ours).’ This, of course, had to be corrected.” (Source: Norman Deck in The Bible Translator 1963, 34 ff. )
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a benefactive construction as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. Here, oatae (お与え) or “give” is used in combination with kudasaru (くださる), a respectful form of the benefactive kureru (くれる). A benefactive reflects the good will of the giver or the gratitude of a recipient of the favor. To convey this connotation, English translation needs to employ a phrase such as “for me (my sake)” or “for you (your sake).”
Barclay Newman, a translator on the teams for both the Good News Bible and the Contemporary English Version, translated passages of the New Testament into English and published them in 2014, “in a publication brief enough to be non-threatening, yet long enough to be taken seriously, and interesting enough to appeal to believers and un-believers alike.” The following is the translation of Matthew 6:5-15:
When you pray, don’t prattle and rattle like hypocrites —
those prancing pious porkers, seeking praise in a pigsty.
Earthly praise is their full reward.
Keep your prayer life between you and God alone!
Your Father above knows everything.
So be patient! Your reward is waiting for you.
No need to prattle and rattle when you pray.
Such prayers irritate the ears of God.
Your Father already knows what you need,
so pray like this:
Father above, help us to honor your name.
Let us see you rule on earth, as you rule in heaven.
Then everyone will obey you down here,
just as you are obeyed up there.
Provide us with food for this day
and forgive us for doing wrong, as we forgive others.
Don’t test us beyond our strength,
and protect us from evil.
Forgive others when you are mistreated,
then your Father above will forgive you.
Fail to forgive others, and you won’t be forgiven.
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
This verse is short but difficult to interpret. The difficulty can best be demonstrated from the Revised Standard Version rendering (Give us this day our daily bread), which represents a fairly literal rendering of the Greek. The problem concerns the meaning of the word rendered daily. The word appears only in Christian literature (perhaps also once in a non-Christian papyrus), and its origin and meaning have never been explained to the satisfaction of all. Several solutions have been offered and are summarized in the commentaries. One of the standard Greek lexicons presents them in the following order:
(1) “Necessary for existence.” This is the choice of Good News Translation: (“Give us today the food we need”), Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (“Give us what we need for life today”), and Bible en français courant (“Give us today the necessary food”). Some commentators say that this interpretation makes the petition less than spiritual. But Jesus and his followers took seriously the needs of the body.
(2) “For the current day, for today.” This seems to be the interpretation favored by translations which render “daily” (see New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, New English Bible, Revised Standard Version). An American Translation (“Give us today bread for the day”) and Phillips (“Give us each day the bread we need for the day”) also favor this interpretation.
(3) “For the following day.” This would refer to the daily ration of bread, given for the next day; therefore, “Give us today our daily portion.” Moffatt translates “give us to-day our bread for the morrow,” while Barclay renders “Give us today our bread for the coming day.” This interpretation offers several possibilities of meaning. If the prayer is said in the morning, the “coming day” would be the day in progress. If prayed in the evening, the petition would also include the following day. But the future reference would permit an eschatological interpretation as well, in which case the “coming day” could be the coming Messianic banquet. However, in this context such an interpretation is highly unlikely.
(4) “Bread for the future.” This is discussed under (3) above; it is the so-called eschatological interpretation.
There is really no significant difference of meaning between the first two alternatives. Moreover, the third alternative, if taken as a reference to the present day, comes to mean essentially the same as the first two possibilities. The fourth interpretation, though attractive, does not seem to be in focus in the present passage.
Give may be “provide” or “make sure we have.”
Since an eschatological interpretation of daily should be rejected, the translation of this day should not be “in these days” or “in this age.” It means simply “today,” although it can be “each day” or “day by day” in some constructions, depending on how daily is dealt with.
The Greek word for bread is here used with the wider meaning of “food.” In very few cultures would the figure “bread” be understood to mean food in general, and therefore almost all translations say “food” or “things to eat.”
Some have wanted to take bread to mean more than “food,” feeling it represents all our needs, spiritual and physical. They have had translations like “everything we need for true life” or “for our souls (or, spirits) and bodies.” This would be incorrect, as would an interpretation like “everything we need for a living,” which covers all physical needs. It is best here to limit the interpretation of bread to “food,” as we said.
Most translators will follow the examples listed under the first two interpretations: “Give us each day (or, today) the food we need,” “Give us today the food for living,” “Give us what food we need to live each day,” or “Give us the food to satisfy our needs each day,” and so forth.
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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