The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-10-21
The Lords Prayer.

| Aho hoEu . AEaytEs
Is the translation Of the Lords Prayer
contained in our authorized English YER
sion, a faithful representation Of the origi-
nal recorded in st. Matthew The mega
tive is maintained in the October number of
the Contemporary Repte,p by Mr.. A. N.
| JANNARIs, whose reason for raising the
question Is that he Is Greek who has spent
his life In studying his native language
not only in its classical stage, but also and
more particularly in its post-classical and
modern stages. He says, truly enough, that
Hellenic scholarship, in the ordinary sense
of familiarity with the classical authors, is
quite as likely to be misleading as helpful
in the Interpretation of New Testa-
ment Greek. This, the international
language, or lingud franco, current
I'm Asia Minor and Syria at the
time Of JESUS, was simply q vernacular
speech, and not intended to he used as an
artistic literary medium. Indeed, Mr. JAM
NARIs reafiirms, what the late Prof
SoPHocLEs of Harvard used to say, that New
Testament Greek, though separated from
classical antiquity only by two or three
centuries, is much less like it than 1t is like
byzantine, or even, in many respects
| modern Greek. 1t Is also to be remembered
| that the Latin of the Vulgate, that Is to
| say, JERoME's revision of the so-called Old
Italic version, powerfully influenced LUTHER
and the English translators OF the New
Testament. OF course, the Vulgate, as we
now have it, Is the late revision
made by CLEMENT VIII. in 1895.
These general considerations have led
this modern Greek to attempt a new Eng
| lish version Of the Lords Prayer. Begin
| ming with the first sentence, "Our Father,
which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name"
Mr.. JANSARIs pronounces this an adequate
rendering though he directs attention to the
stress laid in the original, through collocstion,
on the phrase which art in heaven" for it
suggests n contradistinction to the Lord of
this world. 1t is commended, on the other
hand, that the following clause, THY king
dom come" represents but vaguely the
original. 1t is pointed out that liking
dom" is merely translation of re9nu,n,
the Latin term for the two classical Greek
expressions bdsileion and bdstletd. In the
case however, Of New Testament Greek,
particularly that of the Synoptic gospels,
bdstteiG (the word used in the Lords
Prayer supplies the abstract noun, not
30 much Of bdstleus, king" as of
kurtos, "lord;" for the latter, though
very frequent, has no corresponding abstract
OF its own in common use. Had JESUS
wished to express the idea of Kingdom"
he would have resorted to the term
then current, bdsileton, which is still
the only designation in modern Greek
But He is careful to employ neither
for Himself, nor for His Father, the
title Of liking ,"bdsileus; indeed, He ex-
plicitly disclaims Il, because it would have
planted wrong expectations in the Jews and
compromised Himself in the eyes of the
Roman authorities. When He refers to
Himself or to His Father. He uses the word
kuriOs, lord" for which the Latin
equivalent Is dominus; while for the
abstract notion OF this expression, He in
variably has recourse to baS!leid, that is
"lordship" or dominion" According,
then, to Mr.. JASSARIs, the right version OF
the clause in question is THY dominion
come" that is, thy sway be extended from
heaven to this world, now ruled over by the
adversary.
The English translation OF the next clause
OF the Lords Prayer, thy will be done,
as in heaven, so on earth" Is deemed admis-
sible, although will" is not an exact rem
dering Of the original word theleDld, and
seems To have been employed with reference
partly TO the Latin term uOluRtds, and partly
to the classical Greek verb helO. But
thelema is a popular term peculiar to post
classical and modern Greek, and serves as a
substitute for the classical words botlIe,
bOuleumd, and diagnosis, meaning "deter-
mination" or fixed purpose" Mr.. JAN
SARIs would, therefore, English the clause
as follows: "thy thxe6 purpose be done"
To the succeeding words "GiVe US this
day our daily bread" good deal Of space
Is devoted. the erux being the Greek adjec-
tive ton sptOusion, which in the Old Latin
version was rendered quOttdtGRum, and
which reappsArs in our authorized Eng
lish translation az "daily." AS the word
eptOustOs here presents itself for the first
time in the Greek language, much erudi-
ton and argument from analogy have been
expended on it, Mr., JAHSARIs gives rea-
sons for believing that it was coined as an
antithesis to peTiOusiOs, a term employed
by the SePtuagint with which either JESUS
himself, or the author of MATTHEW'S gospel
was obviously familiar) TO represent the
Hebrew adjective se1lIIld, meaning abound
ing in earthly goods" The significance then
OF the antithetical word, eptOustOs, would be
to disclaim anything beyond the subsistence
needed to support life for the day. So that
the clause should DO rendered, give US
this day our mere. or simple, bread"
Subjected, likewise, TO detailed crit
icisn are the words in our English version,
"And Lad Us not into temptation, but de-
liver us from evil" Il = denied that the
prayer, lead Us not into temPta-