What is the Lord's Prayer?

The Lord's Prayer is the most prayed prayer in human history. Jesus gave it to his disciples when they asked him to teach them to pray. It appears in Matthew 6:9-13 and in a shorter form in Luke 11:2-4. It is recited daily in churches, monasteries, and homes around the world.

This guide explains each line of the prayer, what it meant in its original context, and why its structure has shaped Christian worship for two thousand years.

The prayer begins by addressing God as Father. This was radical. While the Old Testament occasionally calls God "Father," Jesus made it the primary way his followers address God. The word in Aramaic is Abba — intimate, familial, trusting.

"Which art in heaven" prevents the intimacy from becoming casual. God is near enough to be called Father and great enough to fill heaven. The opening line holds tenderness and majesty together.

The first petitions are not about us. They are about God. Hallowed be thy name asks that God's character be honoured. Thy kingdom come asks that God's reign be established on earth. Thy will be done asks that God's purposes prevail.

This ordering is deliberate. Before we ask for anything for ourselves, we orient ourselves toward God's honour and God's purposes. The prayer teaches that worship comes before petition.

Give us this day our daily bread is a request for provision — material, daily, sufficient. It echoes the manna in the wilderness. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors ties divine forgiveness to human forgiveness. The two are inseparable.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil asks for protection. The Christian life includes testing and spiritual danger. Jesus teaches his disciples to ask for guidance through both.

The Lord's Prayer has been recited in liturgies since the earliest centuries of the church. The Didache, written around AD 100, instructs Christians to pray it three times a day. Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and many Protestant traditions include it in every worship service.

The doxology — "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever" — does not appear in the earliest manuscripts of Matthew but was added early in church use. It provides a fitting conclusion that returns the prayer to praise.