By Nomathemba Pearl Dzinotyiwei

The Lord’s Prayer : Official English Version

Our Father

Who art in Heaven

Hallowed be thy name

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven

Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, the power & the glory. Forever and ever.

Amen

We recited this prayer almost every day at church and at school until it became part of our consciousness. However I was amazed to discover that the translation of this prayer taught by Jesus to his disciples exists & reads very differently from what has been taught.

The Direct Translation from Aramaic to English

Suzette Standring brought this version of the prayer to the world’s attention. Translated by Neil Douglas-Klotz PHD, it revives the memory of the worship of the Divine Feminine, reminding us that God, the Creator is not exclusively male. https://readsuzette.com/lords-prayer-original-aramaic/

The original translation of Jesus’ Christ’s words in Aramaic is as follows:

O Birther! Father-Mother of the Cosmos, you create all that moves in light.

Focus your light within us — make it useful: as the rays of a beacon show the way.

Unite our “I can” to yours, so that we walk as kings and queens with every creature.

Create in me a divine cooperation — from many selves, one voice, one action.

Grant what we need each day in bread and insight.

Forgive our hidden past, the secret shames, as we consistently forgive what others hide.

Deceived neither by the outer nor the inner — free us to walk your path with joy.

From you is born all ruling will, the power and life to do, the song that beautifies all from age to age it renews. Amen.

Exegesis of the Aramaic Version of the Lord’s Prayer from an African Spiritual Perspective

If we use the principles of exegesis which is the critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially of scripture, this will blow your mind. Exegesis is a tool used by preachers to break down Bible text to gain understanding of God’s word in preparation for teaching either in a Bible study or a worship service.

I was astonished to discover how aligned the world view expressed in this version of the Lord’s Prayer is to our world view as Africans. When you consider each line of the text, you can relate it to our concept of the Creator God & how we worship the Creator as Africans, as well as how we conduct ourselves.

God is neither Male or Female but both at the same time

For Africans, the Creator is not one single gender. The entire universe is built according to the law of Gender with masculine and feminine energy. Even the 4 elements have either masculine or feminine elemental energy and only the Spirit has no specific gender. This is why in the biblical myth, Noah took two of every creature male & female into the ark to repopulate the earth after the flood.

Universal Law of Polarity

Africans understand the universal principle of polarity – light and darkness. We call on our ancestors who dwell in the light, close to the Creator & can intercede for us. We understand that the other side – darkness is of a lower vibration & nothing good comes from it.

When healers meet & greet each other in Sesotho, they say ‘Lesedi!’ which means that they recognise the light in the other healer & he/she responds with ‘Kganya!’ which means that the light must shine.

Nguni people not only healers end prayers when talking to their ancestors and spirit guides by saying ‘Mabu ded’ubumnyama! Makuvel’ukukhanya which means the darkness must recede and the light must appear.

This aligns with the request in the prayer for the light within us that comes from the Creator to be focused so it shines and shows the way for others. This is why healers who are properly initiated and functioning at the right level of vibration are light workers & do not work with the darkness.

We are Kings & Queens

Many African indigenous healers are of royal descent. However, royalty isn’t just about lineage. It’s about how you conduct yourself in the world with grace, wisdom and dignity. We call a spirit guides that is not of our family lineage – isidalwa – a creation in isiZulu, because they come from the Creator. These spiritual entities from various realms such as ancestors, angels, extra-terrestrials, ascended spiritual masters, deities among others walk with us on our journey, teach, protect, help and support indigenous healers in their spiritual work.

We ask the Creator to unite our ability with his/hers to enable us to work with all the spirit beings in the universe. We ask for the ability to conduct ourselves as kings and queens, with discernment, behaving appropriately as the occasion calls for it whether we are interacting with a dark spirit being like a demon or a light spirit being like an Angel or an elemental spirit.

Don’t Drink The Kool Aid.

We ask for discernment so we are not deceived by the visible things of the world like wealth, worldly goods and pleasure or the invisible spiritual things of the spirit because neither extreme is good for our soul’s evolution. You can be too spiritual and be unable to pay your bills or be too carnal which means you are feeding your physical self at the expense of your spiritual development. We ask the Creator to help us to walk the path that we chose before we were born with joy no matter what our circumstances are.

This is an important part of the prayer. We need provision for both our physical needs – represented by bread and for our mental and spiritual needs for sanity, growth & development – insight meaning knowledge, understanding & wisdom. There are many Proverbs that talk about a fool – one who lacks wisdom and how hunger & poverty dehumanise a person. Man cannot live on bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. The mouth of God brings forth wisdom, necessary because folly leads to sin and the wages of sin is death.

Divine Cooperation, Integration and the Journey of the Soul

We need divine cooperation so that we can integrate our many different selves from experiences that we have gathered in our various incarnations and the different personalities that we adopt in this life in different situations. Integration is necessary for us to live as a fully actualised human being with integrity. We need to act with undivided intent and behave the same way in every situation.

Our soul’s evolution requires us to be honest and authentic & not behave differently with different people because that is deceptive, manipulative and destructive to other people. Narcissists have many false selves because they cannot bear to face the ugliness of their real self. We need a healthy dose of self-respect, self-confidence and self-esteem as we are made in the image of the Creator but we are not above our fellow human beings.

To Err is Human, to Forgive Divine

This prayer in this version recognises that we know when we have sinned against the Creator or fellow human beings and we are secretly ashamed, even if we never admit it. We need the Creator’s forgiveness and help to consistently forgive others’ shortcomings because our hurt feelings can overwhelm us to a point of seeking revenge. Yet as the South African poet Mzwakhe Mbuli said, ‘an eye for an eye makes the world blind’.

There are many things that people do against God, the Creator, to and against us and other people that they never admit. They hide their sin not just from others but also from themselves which is self-deception. Forgiveness is easier when a person admits their sin. You need God’s grace, i.e. supernatural power to forgive a person particularly when they deny it. This is because unforgiveness is said to be like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.

Forgiveness means not taking revenge. It does not excuse the other person’s behaviour. It does not mean they are exempt from divine retribution. It means that you are making a decision to free yourself from the hurt and pain they caused you. Karma has everyone’s address. Let the universe do it’s job of allowing the law of consequence or cause and effect or in biblical terms reaping and sowing.

Power, Life & A Beautiful Song

Everything comes from the Creator, so we acknowledge that. When we communicate with our ancestors we ask them to intercede with the Creator on our behalf and take our prayers and requests to Him/Her. Africans believe that there is a Supreme Being who created the universe and is greater than every other spiritual entity.

The Creator gives us everything including life, free will, the power to do whatever we set our mind to & the beautiful music that marks all our moments of sorrow & joy in this life. The word inspiration comes from the root word for Spirit in Latin. This is why in many African Spiritual traditions we connect to Spirit through song and dance & it’s an essential part of spiritual initiation.

In Africa we believe in reincarnation. The Christian elders after the Council at Nicaea removed the doctrine of reincarnation from the official teachings of the Church. We acknowledge eternity & the cycles of renewal from age to age because we are aware that we are part of those cycles of birth, death, rebirth and our burial practices and rituals for new-borns among others are part of that.

So It Is and So It Shall Be

Finally Amen. This word in Hebrew is a declaration of affirmation or certainty.
Amen in worship today means the word that has been spoken is true, faithful and so be it i.e. what has been requested must come into existence. It is recommended that the word be said 3 times.

I found this version of the Lord’s Prayer to be most powerful & resonant with my beliefs as an African. I am grateful that my spiritual journey started with Christianity because I have the best of both worlds & I see traces & hear echoes of the Divine Supreme Being I call God, the Creator in every spiritual tradition that I come across.