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[Supporter]

In the lord's prayer I recall some versions saying "Do not lead us to the test" while others "Do not lead us to temptation". Can you please tell me which versions of the prayer say the former "Do not lead us to the test"

I tried looking for it online but could not find anything relevant

[jimwalton]

The Greek word Matthew uses in Mt. 6.13 is πειρασμόν, which is defined as "Temptation (from without or within, that can be an occasion of sin to a person); trial; test." That might explain the various translations. So what matters is trying to get at what Jesus is saying. Grammarians say it is a permissive imperative. I would say the idea is that he is teaching the pray-er to request that God: "Do not allow us to be led into temptation." In other words, protect us from us, help us cope with it, or show us the way out of it.

As far as translations go, almost all translate it "temptation." I was able to find a few others:

• The Complete Jewish Bible (CJB): "And do not lead us into hard testing"
• The Good News Translation (GNT): "Do not bring us to hard testing"
• the International Children's Bible: "And do not cause us to be tested."
• New American Bible (Revised edition): "and do not subject us to the final test"
• New Revised Standard Version (NRSV): "And do not bring us to the time of trial,"
• New Testament for Everyone (NTE): "Don’t bring us into the great trial"
• Revised Geneva Translation: "And lead us not into trial"

All the other translations—dozens of them—use "temptation" or "tempted."

[Supporter]

Ah thank you for your very detailed response, reflecting back, I think that it may have been Sunday class when I was younger that I was taught "Do not lead us to the test" perhaps because I would assume that maybe they wanted to put off "temptation" for whatever reason.