11:4a
And forgive us our sins: In this context, the verb forgive means that God chooses not to punish us for the evil things that we have done and thought. God cancels our guilt and treats us as though we had never offended him.
Some possible ways to translate forgive us our sins are:
Pardon us for our sins
-or-
Erase/Remove our guilt
-or-
Forget/cancel the wrongs that we have done
The word “forgive” in the context of God or Jesus forgiving sins first occurs in Luke in 5:20b. See how you translated the word there.
sins: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as sins is a general word. It refers to wrong things that people have done to others or to God. (It is not the same word as in the parallel passage in Matthew 6:12, which means “debts.”)
These sins include acts, thoughts, and attitudes that break God’s laws or are contrary to what God wants or approves. A person also sins when he does not do what God wants him to do.
You should translate sins with a general term that can include any wrongdoing against God or another person. Here are some problems to avoid:
(a) The term should not imply that only serious crimes like murder or stealing are sins. Other offenses like gossip and greed are also sins.
(b) The term should not include accidents or mistakes that are not against God’s will.
Some ways to translate sins are:
wrong acts
-or-
evil deeds
In some languages it may be more natural to translate sins with a phrase that includes a verb. For example:
Forgive us for doing wrong
The word sins also occurs in 7:47a–b.
11:4b
for: Verse 11:4b introduces the reason why we human beings are able to ask God to forgive us. We can confidently ask a gracious God to forgive us because even we sinful people forgive others.
This does not mean that God must forgive us because we forgive others. If people incorrectly understand this phrase in this way, you may be able to translate this clause in a way that does not suggest that meaning. For example:
as we forgive those who sin against us (New Living Translation (2004))
we also forgive: The context of the Greek verb forgive implied continuing action. It means “we continually/regularly forgive.” This is the same verb as in 11:4a.
everyone who sins against us: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as sins against us is literally “is in debt to us.” Many English versions translate this literal sense, for example:
every one who is indebted to us (Revised Standard Version)
In the Jewish culture, sin was regarded as a debt. So in this context, “debt” is used as an idiom that means “sins” or “wrongs.” It is the same word that is used in Matthew 6:12.
Some ways to translate this word are:
• Use the same word as the word “sin” in 11:4a. For example:
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us (NET Bible)
• Use a different term for sin that has a similar meaning. For example:
for we forgive everyone who does us wrong (Good News Translation)
Translate this in a way that is natural in your language.
11:4c
And lead us not into temptation:
The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates here as temptation is ambiguous. There are two ways to interpret this word:
(1) It means temptation. This refers to being tempted to sin. For example:
don’t allow us to be tempted (God’s Word)
(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, Revised Standard Version, NET Bible, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, God’s Word, New Living Translation (2004))
(2) It means testing. This refers to difficulties and persecutions. For example:
do not bring us to hard testing (Good News Translation)
(Good News Translation, New Revised Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible, Revised English Bible)
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), along with a majority of Bible scholars.
lead us not into temptation: The clause lead us not into temptation means that we should ask God to lead/guide our lives away from situations that expose us to temptation. It is a request that God will protect us from situations where someone or something would persuade us to sin. God himself does not tempt people (James 1:13).
Some other ways to translate this clause are:
lead us away from temptation
-or-
don’t let us yield to temptation (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
do not allow anyone/anything to tempt us
-or-
protect/keep us from being tempted to do evil
-or-
cause us to stay far from temptation
This phrase is the same as in Matthew 6:13.
lead us not: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as lead can also mean “bring” or “carry.” For example:
And do not bring us (Good News Translation)
Some other ways to translate this verb are:
keep us from (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
protect us from
-or-
don’t allow us to be (God’s Word)
-or-
don’t let us yield to (New Living Translation (2004))
temptation: In some languages, it will be more natural to translate temptation as a verb. For example:
be tempted
-or-
be enticed/attracted to sin
-or-
be persuaded/convinced to do wrong
© 2009, 2010, 2013 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.