The Lord’s Prayer: the words and what they mean

This is the Lord’s Prayer in the traditional English wording most churches still pray, from the Book of Common Prayer:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

And this is the prayer as Jesus taught it in Matthew 6:9–13, in the Father’s Heart Bible™:

‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored as holy, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’

The two say the same things. The older wording uses thy and art, and the closing line of praise was added in the early church’s worship (more on that below).

• “Our Father in heaven” — the prayer opens with a relationship before it asks for anything. “Our” means no one prays it alone; “in heaven” means the Father who is near is also above every power on earth.
• “May your name be honored as holy” — the traditional “hallowed be thy name.” It is a request, not a compliment: let who You are be known and honoured as what it is. See what “hallowed be thy name” means.
• “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” — asking for the Father’s good rule to reach here, in our homes and cities, as fully as it is honoured in heaven.
• “Give us today our daily bread” — children ask their Father for what they need, one day at a time, trusting there will be enough tomorrow.
• “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” — sin is pictured as a debt we cannot pay. Jesus ties receiving forgiveness to giving it: in the next verse, “if you forgive others their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Matthew 6:14).
• “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” — a request to be kept from the test we would fail, and rescued from the enemy who wants the Father’s children for himself.

Jesus could have taught His followers to open with any title of power. He gave them the word He used Himself. Just before the prayer He says, “your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:8), and in Luke the prayer begins with one word: “Father.”

The Father’s Heart Bible™ footnote on Matthew 6:9 puts it simply: Jesus invites his followers to come to our Father with the same closeness he himself enjoys — not as distant servants but as beloved children of the same Father. That is the whole prayer in miniature. Every line after it is what a child asks of a good Father: that His name be honoured, His will be done, His children fed, forgiven and kept safe.

It is also why this translation exists. The Father’s Heart Bible™ reveals God as Father wherever Scripture does, so that what Jesus taught in this one prayer can be heard on every page. Read why this Bible says “our Father”.

The Lord’s Prayer appears twice in the Bible. In Matthew 6:9–13 it is part of the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus warns against praying to be seen and babbling many words, and gives this short prayer as the pattern instead. In Luke 11:2–4, one of His disciples asks, “Lord, teach us to pray,” and Jesus answers with a shorter form that begins simply, “Father.”

Matthew says “forgive us our debts”; Luke says “forgive us our sins,” and both mean the same thing. The familiar “trespasses” comes from the English prayer books, not from either Gospel. In Luke, Jesus goes straight on to say why we can pray this way: “how much more will the Father from heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13).

Many people end the Lord’s Prayer with “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.” Those words are not in the earliest manuscripts of Matthew. As the Father’s Heart Bible™ footnote on Matthew 6:13 explains, later copies close the prayer this way; the words came into the prayer from the early church’s worship, where many still love to say them.

So the line is not a mistake to avoid. It is the church answering the prayer with praise, and you are free to pray it. Most modern translations, including this one, print the prayer as the oldest manuscripts have it and note the longer ending.

Jesus introduces it with “This, then, is how you should pray,” so the Lord’s Prayer is both a prayer to say and a pattern to follow. Pray the words slowly, then let each line open your own prayer: thank your Father for who He is, ask for His will in a situation you are facing, name what you need today, forgive the person you are holding something against, and ask Him to keep you. Our guide How to Pray walks through it, and you can read and listen to the whole of Matthew 6 free.