They are three parallel third-person imperatives: may your ‘X’ do ‘Y’! The structure of the first three requests in the prayer is actually very tight. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Let us translate the first part of the Lord’s prayer in a way that shows the structure more literally and clearly: Part of the reason we might miss this is our rustiness with King James English. But I was wrong the first request in the Lord’s Prayer is not “Thy kingdom come.” The first request is “Hallowed be Thy name.” It sounded like a fancy way of saying “your name is holy.” That seemed like a good way to start a prayer: address God and say “Father, your name is holy,” and then get on to the requests. I never gave much thought to “hallowed be Thy name,” anyway. Second request: (May) Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Opening statement: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. I used think that the structure of the prayer was like this: But perhaps we might be tempted to answer the way I used to: our first request is “Thy kingdom come.” To show you where I went wrong, let me ask a question: Where is the first place we actually ask for something in the Lord’s Prayer? What is the first request, the first thing we pray for? Our quick first answer might be “give us this day our daily bread,” but a little reflection shows that will not work several requests come before that one. In this article we will explore this deceptively simple phrase to understand better what we have been reciting all this time. I knew that I had questions about some sections of this prayer, but one part that seemed obvious to me was “hallowed be Thy name.” Christians recite this prayer together often, sometimes weekly, and I would bet that many of us share the same mistaken idea that I had, namely, that the meaning of “hallowed be Thy name” was so obvious it needed no explanation.
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.Īnd forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.Īnd lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.įor Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. For me, one of those verses was the opening of the well-known Lord’s Prayer: Sometimes we can go for years thinking that we understand a passage in the Bible and then discover that we were mistaken. The Art of Learning Conference: Learning for Life.Liberal Arts: Education for All Walks of Life.Mission & Philosophy of Education Statement.
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