Most churches use the Lord's Prayer every Sunday, which means that every week Christians pray, "Give us today our daily bread."
But if you think about it, it's a very odd expression. "Daily bread" – what's that about? The bread that we're used to getting every day, or that we're entitled to get every day?
If we go back to the original Greek, it gets even odder. Because the word for "daily" in Matthew 6:11, epiousios, only appears in this one place in all of ancient literature. That's a problem for translators, because the way to decide how to translate a word is to look at how it's actually used in different contexts – and if the only context they have is this one, they can't do that.
The problem has been known since the very earliest Christian times. Origen, the 3rd-century Greek-speaking scholar, thought Matthew had invented the word. But the early Church had two possible solutions, each of which had two alternatives within it.
1. The first was to say the 'daily' referred to time. It was either literally the bread we need for today – the interpretation we usually put on it – or, as St Jerome said in the 5th century, the bread we need for tomorrow. So it was a prayer to be delivered from anxiety about having enough to eat, and – in some interpretations – it was a reference to the great Messianic banquet at the end of time.
2. The second was to say that "daily" referred to amount. Some of the early Church Fathers said Christians should pray for just enough to stay alive. But the Syriac Church thought that was too harsh. In their translation they opted for "the bread we need" – not just a slice, but a whole loaf in the cupboard.
In his book Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, Kenneth Bailey – an acknowledged expert whose work has enriched generations of scholars – suggests a way of choosing between these interpretations by going back to a very rare early translation. The translation from Greek into Old Syriac was made in the second century, very close to when Matthew's Gospel was written – the oldest translation from Greek anywhere. Syriac is related to Aramaic, which Jesus spoke – most words are the same. And the Syriac translation uses a word for "daily" with the same root as the word "Amen", meaning "lasting, never-ceasing, never-ending, or perpetual". In English the Old Syriac version might say, "Give us today the bread that doesn't run out."
Bailey suggests the prayer is about being delivered from the fear of not having enough, not just now but in the future. He says: "One of the most basic human fears is the dread of economic privation. Will we have enough? We are managing now, but what about the future? What if I lose my job? What if the kids get sick? What if I am unable to work? How will we survive?"
So in the prayer, "Give us today our daily bread," we are asking God for his provision not just today, but tomorrow and forever. We are asking him to deliver us from the fear of the future. It's a prayer that has rich layers of meaning, and careful scholarship has helped recover them for us.
Follow Mark Woods on Twitter: @RevMarkWoods
