ARAMAIC WORD STUDY – WHEN YOU PRAY – TSALU ‘ANATIN   צלו אנתין Sade Lamed Vav   Aleph Nun Taw Yod Nun

Matthew 6:9: “In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.” NKJB

Matthew 6:9: “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.”KJV 

Some years ago a publisher came out with the New King James Version of the Bible assuring the brothers and sisters that they in no way changed the old King James they just updated the archaic language like using “you” for “ye.”  I remember a well known fundamentalist going on television assuring the King James people that this new edition was the true King James translation, nothing was changed except using modern English to make things clearer.  

Well, take a close look at Matthew 6:9 in the NKJB and the Old KJV and tell me if you do not see a major change. At least to me as a teacher of Biblical Languages this is a major deviation and if Christians only knew the importance in this change, the King James only people would be appalled.  

Do you see it?  They did not change the “pray ye” to “pray you.”  In fact they left the “you” completely out of it. Let me share with you how important that little pronoun is to understanding what Jesus is trying to teach.  In fact that little word is the fundamental purpose of Jesus giving this prayer and I, myself, did not even notice it  until I was preparing for my Torah Portion class on the Sukkot, the Jewish festival of Booths.  Here I discovered the Jewish people actually follow the teachings of Jesus much closer than we do when it comes to prayer. 

The word “you” in Hebrew is atah. In Aramaic it is anatin. Both mean more than just you.  It refers to a level that is the source of all Jewish souls and for that matter the source of all born again Christians. It it called the Knesset Yisrael or the Congregation of Israel. For us as Christians it is the fellowship of believers. The word fellowship in Aramaic shauteph which corresponds to the Hebrew word asephah.  This is the word used in Exodus when the plague of flies came upon Egypt. Actually, the word does not really mean flies it is assumed it was flies. It is really a word for swarming insects.  You see the ancients noticed that when the Nile overflowed and flooded the land it washed away many crawling insects, except one, the fire ants. They are tiny creatures that would easily wash away but when floods come they gather together, clinging to each other to create on giant raft which floats on the water.  Ancient believers noticed this and used the word shauteph for fellowship. Christians who swarm together for protection.  When the storms come they gather together and form a life raft to weather the deluge. 

The Jews remind themselves that they are one. They practice something called the Amidah, the word Amidah means to stand, but there are a number of words in Hebrew for standing. This word is used for standing to prepare yourself to do something.  This is a prayer to prepare yourself for prayer. Have you ever prayed to prepare yourself for prayer?  The Catholic church does it all the time with they recite the “Our Father” or what we call the Lord’s prayer. The Amidah prayer is Barcheinu ainu kulanu k’echad.  I wrote it out in Hebrew so you would catch all those nu’s.  Those are all plurals.  This translates out as “Bless us, our Father, all as one. 

In the Jewish mindset when you pray, even when you pray by yourself, in your closet, you are united with all Jews, all souls are as one.  There is no me being angry at you because there is no me versus you.  They are all one.  This is as it should be in our Christian faith, in fact that is why Jesus gave us the “Our Father.”  It is declaring our unity, our oneness as one in Jesus Christ. 

Listen to what you say when you pray the “Our Father.”  Note it starts off as “Our Father.”  It is not “My Father.”  Even when no one is around you pray “Our Father.”  Then it say’s “Give us this day our daily bread.”  It does not say, “Give me this day my daily bread.”  Oh, then Jesus doesn’t stop there. You are not only to include your brothers and sisters in the Fatherhood of God, in prayer for nourishment, but what else? “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against – US.  When someone trespasses against a fellow believer they are trespassing against you as well. Yes, even in asking forgiveness of sins we are to include our Christian family and we must forgive those who have sinned against our brothers and sisters, even if that sin does not affect us personally. “Do not allow us to fall in to temptation but deliver us from evil.”  How many times do we smile when we see a brother or sister we have struggles  with they fall into evil?  

Note Mark 11:25: “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”  When you stand – Amidah praying.  It is all about being united in the family of God.

This whole prayer that Jesus gave us was not for us to memorize and repeat in rote memory word for word.  It was a model for us to follow as an example. It was to be used for “when you stand” or Amidah to prepare you for prayer. 

I challenge you the next time you pray alone in your closet, drop the personal pronoun “I” and “me” and use the plural “you” and “us.”  See if it does add a new dimension to your prayer life.

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