Faulty "Our Father" prayer

[WesleyF]

The last statement in the “Our Father” prayer is mistranslated as

“Deliver us from evil”.

It should be

“Deliver us from the evil one”.

How did this faulty translation find its way into Catholic prayers and why hasn’t the Catholic Church done anything about it for years???

The Catechism is clear on this issue -

CCC 2850-2851

VII “BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL”

2850 The last petition to our Father is also included in Jesus’ prayer: “I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.” It touches each of us personally, but it is always “we” who pray, in communion with the whole Church, for the deliverance of the whole human family. The Lord’s Prayer continually opens us to the range of God’s economy of salvation. Our interdependence in the drama of sin and death is turned into solidarity in the Body of Christ, the “communion of saints.”

2851** In this petition, evil is not an abstraction, but refers to a person, Satan, the Evil One**, the angel who opposes God. The devil (dia-bolos) is the one who “throws himself across” God’s plan and his work of salvation accomplished in Christ.

Why then do we still say “deliver us from evil” instead of “deliver us from the evil one”?

 

[po18guy]

As well, in Spanish, the prayer states, “and do not let us fall into temptation”. Why would God lead us into such?

 

[ZDHayden]

The Our Father and Minor Doxology in English both have accuracy problems, despite the fact that the Latin is a pretty good translation of the Greek. My guess is that these prayers have been influenced by some historical aspect (maybe someone who does not get bored with Western European history after 1400 can say).

 

[Mintaka]

But “evil one” isn’t what the Our Father says in Greek. It says “the evil” (tou ponerou).

The primary sense is “the Evil One”, yes. But it’s also referring to the Psalm: “Deliver me from the evil man”. And it’s referring to deliverance from “the evil day” as well as the evil that comes from our own bad use of our own free will. Jesus was showing Himself to be rabbi and God and poet, in His composition of this prayer; He was able to say a lot in a little space.

So when there was this kind of wordplay in the Greek or Hebrew, St. Jerome would translate it with similarly ambiguous phrases. (In this case, “a malo”, which at the same time means “from evil”, “from the evil”, and “from the evil one.”)

The English translation of the Lord’s Prayer came from the Vulgate, and made the same kind of choices to reproduce ambiguity. In Old English, “God” and “good” were the same word, “gode”. So it won’t surprise you that “evil” and “the Evil One” were also the same word: “yfele”. So the usual translation of the Our Father is a wonderfully precise translation, in fact, and that’s why we still use it with very few changes.

Homilies explaining and contemplating the Our Father have been a staple of Christianity since as far back as we know. Only modern Americans don’t get much catechesis about the basic Christian prayer, and don’t get taught this stuff.

 

[Layman_F]

I get hung up on minor nuances too. This may not satisfy, but evil has dual meaning to me. There is evil, as in acts and evil as in Satan. He, Satan that is, IS evil. He is pure, uncut evil. With that in mind, “evil one” just makes it clearer, but “evil” is saying the same thing.

 

[Luvtosew]

As well, in Spanish, the prayer states, “and do not let us fall into temptation”. Why would God lead us into such?

I don’t know, I wondered that too,
but Jesus was lead into the desert to be tempted by the devil
and God allowed Job to be tempted by the devil

so and I always remember and think God never gives us more than we can handle, unsure where that came from,

but temptation is always present, so I guess we are praying for our tests not to be too much for us to bear.

 

[po18guy]

I don’t know, I wondered that too,
but Jesus was lead into the desert to be tempted by the devil
and God allowed Job to be tempted by the devil

so and I always remember and think God never gives us more than we can handle, unsure where that came from,

but temptation is always present, so I guess we are praying for our tests not to be too much for us to bear.

And, I use the “deliver us from the evil one” ending, as that places a name, if not a face on what we are asking to be delivered from.

 

[WesleyF]

But “evil one” isn’t what the Our Father says in Greek. It says “the evil” (tou ponerou).

Yes, but the Catechism is clear that “the evil” here is a reference to the evil one. Why then not make this change in the prayer itself?

But it’s also referring to the Psalm: “Deliver me from the evil man”. And it’s referring to deliverance from “the evil day” as well as the evil that comes from our own bad use of our own free will. Jesus was showing Himself to be rabbi and God and poet, in His composition of this prayer; He was able to say a lot in a little space.

Well, as far as I know, the Church hasn’t taken this interpretation, has it?

 

[Contrabass101]

The Greek is ambiguous.

Because of the way πονερου is used in the sentence, it is impossible to tell whether it is masculine: “the evil man, the evil one” or neutrum: “the evil things, what is evil, Evil (abstract)”

Both are valid translations, many Bibles choose the “conventional” and put the Evil One in the footnote.

 

[Contrabass101]

The primary sense is “the Evil One”, yes. But it’s also referring to the Psalm: “Deliver me from the evil man”. And it’s referring to deliverance from “the evil day” as well as the evil that comes from our own bad use of our own free will.

A very good post, and I agree with you. However, πονερου can not refer to “the evil day” which would be feminine ημερας] πονερας. Other than that, I agree completely.

 

[WesleyF]

The Greek is ambiguous.
Because of the way πονερου is used in the sentence, it is impossible to tell whether it is masculine: “the evil man, the evil one” or neutrum: “the evil things, what is evil, Evil (abstract)”

Although the Greek is ambiguous and it could mean evil things i.e. evil in the abstract sense, the Catholic Church specifically teaches that the petition “deliver us from evil” doesn’t speak of evil in the abstract sense.

As I quoted before, CCC 2851

“In this petition, evil is not an abstraction, but refers to a person, Satan, the Evil One, the angel who opposes God.”

If the church’s understanding is so clear as to what Jesus meant when he taught us the prayer, then why shouldn’t that be reflected in the prayer that we say? In a culture that mocks belief in the existence of the devil, the Catholic Church would do its flock a great service if it were to change the wording of the Our Father prayer to what it should be so as to remove ambiguity. In fact, this was one of the changes I was expecting to come along with the new mass translation, but it didn’t happen.

 

[WesleyF]

As well, in Spanish, the prayer states, “and do not let us fall into temptation”. Why would God lead us into such?

I believe this is because the Greek word for “testing” and “temptation” is the same. So it would have been more appropriate if the prayer had been translated as “lead us not into testing” or “lead us not to the test”.

I say this because “God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one” (James 1:13). So it doesn’t make sense to say “lead us not into temptation”. Perhaps someone can correct me here.

 

[po18guy]

I believe this is because the Greek word for “testing” and “temptation” is the same. So it would have been more appropriate if the prayer had been translated as “lead us not into testing” or “lead us not to the test”.

I say this because “God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one” (James 1:13). So it doesn’t make sense to say “lead us not into temptation”. Perhaps someone can correct me here.

This is borne out by Jesus at Gethsemane. He admonished Peter to pray that he would not enter into the test/temptation (Matthew 26:41).

As well, the prayer was first recorded by Matthew,(Matthew 6:9-13) in Aramaic. I wonder if a little reverse translating into the original tongue might yield some insight?

 

[WesleyF]

Any other opinions?

 

[bmullins]

I dunno… when I pray deliver us from evil, that covers Satan. It also covers all of the evil spiritual influences, and evil from other men/women. I don’t see it as a problem. If I pray deliver me from evil… and Satan IS evil… then adding ‘one’ to the end doesn’t change the intent of being delivered from evil.