Matthew 6:11 Give us this day

Spoken to: 

audience

Sermon on Mount, law and fulfillment, visible and hidden, debts and repayment, virtue and virtue signaling, the Lord's Prayer

KJV: 

Matthew 6:11 Give us this day our daily bread.

NIV : 

Matthew 6:11  Give us today our daily bread.

3RD (NLT, if not otherwise identified): 

Matthew 6:11 Give us today the food we need,

LISTENERS HEARD: 

This loaf, the  existing upon, give us this day,

GREEK (Each Word Explained Bottom of Page): 

LOST IN TRANSLATION: 

This is the first verse in the Lord's Prayer that contains an actual request from God. All the prior verbs that are translated as requests are actually third-person request, that is, requests to "let" something happen or statements that is "must" happen. This "give" is the first verb form is in the Greek form of a direct requests from God.

All the previous verses in the Lord's Prayer have also lead with the verb and finished with the subject creating suspense for the audience about the subject. This verse reverses that form, leading with the subject and finishing with the verb.  This is important because, in Greek, the word that is most important appear first.  Jesus reverses this order to keep in interesting.

This verse's vocabulary is straightforward except for the mystery word that may be the key to the verse. This word is translated as "daily," but "daily" doesn't work at all  since no part of this word relates to the Greek word for "day."

This word is not an adverb, but an adjective used as a noun. We know this because it is introduced by an article, "the" which, without a noun means "the one." See this article for a complete historical discussion of this word.  Its use was clearly recognized as intentional by Jesus since the Gospel writers use it both here and in Luke's shorter version of the Lord's Prayer. Some think it means "sufficient for what is coming" based on a possible root word that means "to come on, to approach." However, others maintain in means "supernatural" or "super-essential" based on a root word of "to be."  The use of the verb "to be" as a noun could mean "substance" or "existence" or "existential" or other such words. The word's prefix, "epi"  a number of possible meanings from the simple "on," which is how Jesus uses it most frequently to the more abstract "beyond."  The literal interpretation of the word is "the existing upon."

# KJV TRANSLATION ISSUES: 

3
  • MW - Missing Word -- The word "the" is not shown in the English translation.
  • WW - Wrong Word -- The word translated as "daily" means "existing upon."
  • MW - Missing Word -- The word "the" is not shown in the English translation.

# NIV TRANSLATION ISSUES: 

3
  • MW - Missing Word -- The word "the" is not shown in the English translation.
  • WW - Wrong Word -- The word translated as "daily" means "existing upon."
  • MW - Missing Word -- The word "the" is not shown in the English translation.

# 3RD TRANSLATION ISSUES: 

4
  • WW - Wrong Word -- The word translated as "food" means "loaf."
  • MW - Missing Word -- The word "the" is not shown in the English translation.
  • IW - Inserted Word -- The word "we" doesn't exist in the source.
  • WF - Wrong Form -  The "need" is not an verb.

EACH WORD of KJV : 

Give -- The Greek word translated as "give" means "to give" and "to grant. This verb appears in the middle of the sentence rather than at the beginning. It is in a form which is used both for commands and requests in ancient Greek. Its tense indicates something that takes place at a specific time, in this case, "this day."

us -- The Greek word translated as "us" is in a form that makes the indirect object of "give."

this day -- The Greek word translated as "this day" is not a noun or any combination of a demonstrative pronoun and a noun. It is an adverb. It means "for the day" or "to the day." This word appears at the very end of the sentence.

our -- The "our" is the plural possessive first-person pronoun. This pronoun follows the noun so "of ours."

missing "the"  -- (MW) The untranslated word is the Greek definite article, which usually precedes a noun and, without a noun, takes the meaning of "the one." The Greek article is much closer to our demonstrative pronouns ("this," "that," "these," "those"). See this article for more. 

daily -- (WW)  The word translated as "daily" is a mystery and one of the most interesting words in the Gospels. See this article for a complete historical discussion of this word. The most likely meaning of the Greek is "existing upon."

missing "the"  -- (MW) The untranslated word is the Greek definite article, which usually precedes a noun and, without a noun, takes the meaning of "the one." The Greek article is much closer to our demonstrative pronouns ("this," "that," "these," "those"). See this article for more. 

bread. -- The word translated as "bread" means a loaf of a specific type of bread, but it is translated consistently throughout the NT as "bread." For Christ, of course, the terms is highly symbolic. Among the last mentions is Christ offering bread to his disciples as his flesh. The transformation of seeds, to wheat, to flour, to bread, to flesh, to spirit is one of the overarching themes of the Gospels.Much of John's Chapter Six discusses bread as a symbol for his role in the world John 6:35. See this article for some early thoughts about Christ's use of "bread" in Matthew.

EACH WORD of NIV : 

Give -- The Greek word translated as "give" means "to give" and "to grant. This verb appears in the middle of the sentence rather than at the beginning. It is in a form which is used both for commands and requests in ancient Greek. Its tense indicates something that takes place at a specific time, in this case, "this day."

us -- The Greek word translated as "us" is in a form that makes the indirect object of "give."

today -- The Greek word translated as "today" is not a noun or any combination of a demonstrative pronoun and a noun. It is an adverb. It means "for the day" or "to the day." This word appears at the very end of the sentence.

our -- The "our" is the plural possessive first-person pronoun. This pronoun follows the noun so "of ours."

missing "the"  -- (MW) The untranslated word is the Greek definite article, which usually precedes a noun and, without a noun, takes the meaning of "the one." The Greek article is much closer to our demonstrative pronouns ("this," "that," "these," "those"). See this article for more. 

daily -- (WW)  The word translated as "daily" is a mystery and one of the most interesting words in the Gospels. See this article for a complete historical discussion of this word. The most likely meaning of the Greek is "existing upon."

missing "the"  -- (MW) The untranslated word is the Greek definite article, which usually precedes a noun and, without a noun, takes the meaning of "the one." The Greek article is much closer to our demonstrative pronouns ("this," "that," "these," "those"). See this article for more. 

bread. -- The word translated as "bread" means a loaf of a specific type of bread, but it is translated consistently throughout the NT as "bread." For Christ, of course, the terms is highly symbolic. Among the last mentions is Christ offering bread to his disciples as his flesh. The transformation of seeds, to wheat, to flour, to bread, to flesh, to spirit is one of the overarching themes of the Gospels.Much of John's Chapter Six discusses bread as a symbol for his role in the world John 6:35. See this article for some early thoughts about Christ's use of "bread" in Matthew.

EACH WORD 3RD (NLT or as noted): 

Give -- The Greek word translated as "give" means "to give" and "to grant. This verb appears in the middle of the sentence rather than at the beginning. It is in a form which is used both for commands and requests in ancient Greek. Its tense indicates something that takes place at a specific time, in this case, "this day."

us -- The Greek word translated as "us" is in a form that makes the indirect object of "give."

today -- The Greek word translated as "today" is not a noun or any combination of a demonstrative pronoun and a noun. It is an adverb. It means "for the day" or "to the day." This word appears at the very end of the sentence.

our -- The "our" is the plural possessive first-person pronoun. This pronoun follows the noun so "of ours."

the -- The word translated as "the" is the Greek definite article, which usually precedes a noun and, without a noun, takes the meaning of "the one." The Greek article is much closer to our demonstrative pronouns ("this," "that," "these," "those"). See this article for more. 

food. -- (WW) The word translated as "bread" means a loaf of a specific type of bread, but it is translated consistently throughout the NT as "bread." For Christ, of course, the terms is highly symbolic. Among the last mentions is Christ offering bread to his disciples as his flesh. The transformation of seeds, to wheat, to flour, to bread, to flesh, to spirit is one of the overarching themes of the Gospels.Much of John's Chapter Six discusses bread as a symbol for his role in the world John 6:35. See this article for some early thoughts about Christ's use of "bread" in Matthew.

missing "the"  -- (MW) The untranslated word is the Greek definite article, which usually precedes a noun and, without a noun, takes the meaning of "the one." The Greek article is much closer to our demonstrative pronouns ("this," "that," "these," "those"). See this article for more. 

we -- (IW) There is no Greek word that can be translated as "it" in the Greek source.

need-- (WF)  The word translated as "need" is a mystery and one of the most interesting words in the Gospels. See this article for a complete historical discussion of this word. The word is not a verb, but an adjective that is used like a noun because it preceded by an article.

COMPARISON: GREEK to KJV : 

Τὸν (article sg masc acc)  Untranslated is the Greek definite article, hos, ("the"), which usually precedes a noun and, without a noun, takes the meaning of "the one" or, in the plural, "the ones." -- -- The "our" is the plural possessive first-person pronoun. This pronoun follows the noun so "of ours."

ἄρτον (noun sg masc acc) "Bread" is from artos, which means specifically a "cake of whole wheat bread," and generally "loaf," and "bread."

ἡμῶν (pron 1st pl gen) "Our" is from hemon, which is the plural possessive (genitive) form of the first personal pronoun. Since it follows the noun, "of ours" is more accurate.

τὸν (article sg masc acc)  Untranslated is the Greek definite article, hos, ("the"), which usually precedes a noun and, without a noun, takes the meaning of "the one" or, in the plural, "the ones." --

ἐπιούσιον [2 verses](adj sg neut acc) "Daily" is from epiousios, which may mean, "the appropriate," "sufficient for the coming," which first appears in Greek here. It could be an adjective from the verb epiousa, which means "to come on, to approach." It may also be from epi eimi, meaning literally "upon being" or "being upon." Some suggest is means "over being" or "above being" (from another meaning of epi) with the sense of meaning "supernatural" or "super-essential." Discussion about its possible meanings go back to the very early Christian writers. It is not the Greek word "daily," which is a form of the word "day" (semeron). 

δὸς (2nd sg aor imperat act) "Give" is from didomi, which means "to give," "to grant," "to hand over," "appoint," "establish," and "to describe."

ἡμῖν (pron 1st pl masc/fem dat) "Us" is from hemin, which is the first person plural dative pronoun, "to us."

σήμερον: (adv) "This day" is from semeron, which is an adverb that means "for today" and "on this day."

Wordplay: 

The use of a rare word meaning "sufficient for what is coming" to describe the bread requested in the prayer. 

Related Verses: 

Unimportant Opinions and Imaginings: 

This bread of ours, the existing upon, Give to us today!

Front Page Date: 

Jun 3 2020