The conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer is: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen,
Ironically, this conclusion was almost certainly not part of the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples! The phrase, “for thine is the kingdom...” is not found in any Greek manuscript prior to the fifth century, and while the Lord’s Prayer is widely quoted by the early Fathers, only after the fourth century does it conclude with these words.
How did it come to be added?
The Lord’s Prayer ends rather awkwardly. “Deliver us from evil” is a rather strange way to end a prayer. And so most likely some early pastor decided to add a phrase from 1 Chronicles 29 to the end of the Lord’s Prayer. The phrase caught on and by the fifth century a large number of people were using this concluding phrase.
At some point, probably in the 4th or 5th century, a copyist was transcribing the Lord’s Prayer and thought that someone had accidentally left out the concluding phrase. So he “corrected” the “error” – and since many other copyists perpetuated it, eventually 1 Chronicles 29:11 became permanently affixed to Matthew 6:13.
I am glad that most modern translations are willing to leave it out of Matthew 6:13. Jesus almost certainly did not say it, so we should not put it in our Bibles. BUT, I am also glad that we continue to use this conclusion to the Lord’s Prayer. Because not only is it true, it is also scriptural....
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