Matthew 6:12

Matthew 6:12 avfh,kamen

Is the second verb in the fifth petition “as we forgive” (AV) or “as we have forgiven” (RSV)? The latter translates the aorist form of the verb (avfh,kamen), read by a* B Z 1 22 124^mg 1365 1582, five manuscripts of the Latin Vulgate, syr^{p, h with *} cop^fay. On the other hand the present tense (avfi,emen or avfi,omen) is supported by all other Greek witnesses as well as by most ancient versions, namely the Old Latin, the majority of the Vulgate manuscripts, both the Sahidic and Bohairic forms of the Coptic, the Curetonian Syriac (syr^s hiat), the Gothic, the Armenian, the oldest manuscript of the Georgian, and the Ethiopic. Except for the Syriac Peshitta the parallel in Luke ( Luke 11:4) reads the present tense (avfi,omen or avfi,emen).

If the original form of the Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic had a verb in the perfect tense used as a present, the aorist tense in Greek would represent a mechanical translation less idiomatic than the present tense. On the basis of the weight of the external evidence, as well as considering the non-parallel reading, a majority of the Committee preferred avfh,kamen.