!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> Emerging Women .comment-link {margin-left:.6em;}
Sunday, January 28, 2007
O Birther! Father-Mother of the Cosmos
I read this translation of the Lord's Prayer several years ago at ChristianMystics.com. It speaks to my heart with a sense of clarity and beauty I hadn't seen before from our traditional version. I'd like to hear what other's impressions are of this:

THE LORD'S PRAYER
(One Possible New Translation From The Aramaic***)
by Neil Douglas Klotz

1a*) Abwoon d'bwashmaya...
1b**)O Birther! Father-Mother of the Cosmos,
1c***) Our Father which art in heaven.

2a) Nethqadash shmakh...
2b) Focus your light within us-make it useful,
2c) Hallowed be thy name.

3a) Teytey malkuthakh...
3b) Create your reign of unity now,
3c) Thy kingdom come.

4a) Nehwey tzevyanach aykanna d'bwashmaya aph b'arha...
4b) Your one desire then acts with ours,
as in all light, so in all forms,
4c) Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

5a) Hawvlan lachma d'sunqanan yaomana ...
5b) Grant what we need each day in bread and insight,
5c) Give us this day our daily bread.

6a) Washboqlan khaubayn (wakhtahayn)
aykanna daph khnan shbwoqan l'khayyabayn...
6b) Loose the cords of mistakes binding us, as we release the strands we hold of others' guilt,
6c) And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

7a) Wela tahlan l'nesyuna, ela patzan min bisha...
7b) But free us from what holds us back,
7c) And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

8a)Metol dilakhie malkutha wahayla wateshbutkhta l'ahlam almin. AMEYN!...
8b) From you is born all ruling will, the power and the life to do, the song that beautifies all, from age to age it renews...
Truly-power to these statements-may they be the ground from which all my actions grow. Amen!
8c) For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Legend: *a)=Aramaic; **b)= English Translation of the Aramaic;
***c)= King James Version
 
posted by Anne at 5:53 PM ¤ Permalink ¤


6 Comments:


  • At 1/29/2007 11:26:00 AM, Blogger Lydia

    Beautiful.

     

  • At 1/29/2007 12:48:00 PM, Blogger Julie

    that is really amazing - thank you for sharing that!

     

  • At 1/29/2007 03:46:00 PM, Blogger Anne

    Lydia and Julie,
    I'm glad that it struck both of you the same way it did me. I think I'm going to have to design that into a prayer I can frame and hang. I'll let you know if I do and share it.
    Anne

     

  • At 1/29/2007 11:06:00 PM, Blogger Amy

    Thanks for sharing this, Anne. It is beautiful.

     

  • At 1/30/2007 07:45:00 AM, Blogger Jemila Kwon

    Mhhmmm.

     

  • At 2/03/2007 08:45:00 AM, Blogger Andii

    I agree that some of the words and phrases are really evocative, helpful and beautiful. However, there is a problem with calling the ensemble 'a translation' on a par with the KJV cited (or any normal translation of the scriptures). Because strictly it isn't; it's a kind of midrash; a very loose 'giving the sense of' mixed with commentary-on-the-fly. It can be very useful. In this case, though, the provenance is the Creation-centred spirituality network (most famous members being Matt Fox and Starhawk) which should alert us to an ideological bias in the commentary and even perhaps why some might want us to think of it as a translation rather than an interpretive prose-poem loosely based on the translation into Aramaic and heightening the standing of the potential connotative resonances of the Aramaic.
    For more info on the issues around the translation matter see:
    http://www.squidoo.com/abwun
    http://www.change.freeuk.com/learning/relthink/ourfather.html
    http://abbeynous.blogspot.com/2006/12/prayers-of-cosmos-some-notes-towards.html
    http://abbeynous.blogspot.com/2006/09/errors-in-lords-prayer.html

     
Post a Comment ~ back home