The Lord’s Prayer in Hebrew: Full Hebrew Text, Pronunciation, and English Translation
The Lord’s Prayer, while originally a teaching attributed to Jesus in the New Testament, has been rendered in Hebrew in many Christian and Messianic Jewish contexts. This article presents a comprehensive look at a common Hebrew rendering of the core prayer from Matthew 6:9–13, together with transliteration (pronunciation) and an English rendering. Because Hebrew translations of the Lord’s Prayer appear in several editions and liturgical books, you will also encounter stylistic variations. The version presented here is a widely used modern Hebrew rendering that appears in many Hebrew-language Bibles and prayer books, along with notes on a parallel liturgical form used in Jewish worship (Avinu Malkeinu).
Full Hebrew Text: primary rendering
Below is a widely circulated Hebrew rendering of the Lord’s Prayer, including the ten phrases traditionally counted in the prayer. For each verse, the Hebrew is shown first, followed by a transliteration to aid pronunciation, and then an English gloss. In this rendition, the important petitions are emphasized with bold formatting to highlight the main ideas: addressing the Father in heaven, sanctifying God’s name, seeking God’s kingdom and will, asking for daily sustenance, forgiveness, guidance away from temptation, and deliverance from evil.
אָבִינוּ שֶׁבַּשָּמַיִם literally means «Our Father who is in the heavens.» The phrase emphasizes
relationship and divine locality.
יִתְקַדֵּשׁ שִׁמְךָ means «may Your name be sanctified,» often rendered in English as «hallowed be Your name.»
תֵּן לָנוּ לֶחֶם יְמֵינוּ is commonly understood as «give us daily bread» or «give us the bread for today,» with nuance about daily sustenance.
וּסְלַח לָנוּ אֶת-חַטֹּאֹתֵינוּ means «and forgive us our sins/taults,» coupled with the idea of forgiveness conditioned by our own forgiveness of others.
וְאַל-תַּבִּיאֵנוּ לִידֵי-נִסָּיוֹן expresses a plea not to be led into temptation, reflecting the call for divine guidance amid moral testing.
Another frequently encountered line arrangement (due to punctuation and editorial choices) keeps the phrases tightly connected and numerically organized as in many printed Bibles. The essential theology—addressing the Father in heaven, reverencing God’s name, seeking God’s kingdom and will, and requesting daily provision, forgiveness, guidance, and deliverance—remains intact across variants.
These lines show how editors group the petitions and how punctuation can influence reading rhythm. Regardless of minor editorial choices, the core petitions—reverence for God, divine sovereignty, daily sustenance, forgiveness, moral guidance, and deliverance—are preserved in Hebrew renditions.
Pronunciation and transliteration: how to say the Hebrew text
Hebrew pronunciation varies by tradition. The version presented here is aligned with Modern Israeli pronunciation, which is the most widely taught and used today in Hebrew prayer books. To help non-Hebrew readers, each verse is given in transliteration next to the Hebrew line, so you can approximate the exact sounds.
אָבִינוּ שֶׁבַּשָּמַיִם — transliteration: Avinu she-bashamayim; English: «Our Father in heaven.»
יִתְקַדֵּשׁ שִׁמְךָ — yit-qadash shemcha; “hallowed be Your name.”
וְאַל-תְּבִיאֵנוּ לִידֵי-נִסָּיוֹן — ve-al-te-vi-e-nu li-day nissa-yon; “and lead us not into temptation.”
אֶת-הַצִּיל-נָא מִן-הָרָע — et-hat-tzil-na mi-n-ha-ra; “but deliver us from evil.”
In addition to the above rendering, some readers may encounter slight differences in vowels or consonant spellings (for example, shemcha vs shmekha, or ra vs ra’a). These reflect phonetic preferences and editorial choices, but the functional meaning remains the same.
Pronunciation guide: key Hebrew sounds in this passage
To help readers approaching Hebrew pronunciation, here are a few quick notes about the main sounds in the Lord’s Prayer text:
א (aleph) and ה (hei) are often glottal or lightly pronounced in Modern Hebrew; in careful reading they guide syllable breaks.
ש (shin) with the dot on the right is /ʃ/ as in “sh.” When the dot is on the left (sin), the sound is /s/.
ך/כ (khaf) and ח (chet) produce the glottal fricative sounds; in modern Hebrew, khaf is typically /χ/ or an aspirated /x/ depending on speaker and tradition.
י (yod) often acts as a consonant /j/ or as part of a vowel diphthong, affecting syllable structure in compounds like y-mi-nu.
Variant forms commonly encountered in Hebrew prayer traditions
Across Jewish and Christian Hebrew traditions, you will find two broad family representations of the Lord’s Prayer text. Each has its own liturgical context and theological emphasis. Here we summarize both and point to where they diverge in wording.
Variant B: Avinu Malkeinu (Our Father and Our King) style
In Jewish liturgy, especially during certain seasons like Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, a parallel or adapted form known as “Avinu Malkeinu” is sung or recited. The core idea remains paired with a kingly address: “Our Father, Our King”. The petitions align with the themes of petition, repentance, and divine sovereignty, but sometimes with a slightly different cadence and emphasis:
אָבִינוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ שֶׁבַּשָּמַיִם — Avinu Malkeinu she-bashamayim; “Our Father, our King in heaven.”
The English renderings most readers recognize come in variants that reflect the underlying Hebrew. Here is a standard English translation aligned with the primary Hebrew rendering above, followed by a note on the Avinu Malkeinu variant.
Our Father in heaven, may Your name be sanctified. May Your kingdom come; may Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
In the Avinu Malkeinu tradition, the English rendering would be very close but sometimes adjusted to reflect royal petition and broader liturgical intent in the Jewish prayer tradition. A faithful translation would render the opening as “Our Father, our King in heaven”, and the subsequent petitions would align in meaning with the same ten concerns: sanctification of God’s name, coming of God’s kingdom, God’s will, daily sustenance, forgiveness, guidance away from temptation, and deliverance from evil.
Understanding the structure and themes
The Lord’s Prayer, as rendered in Hebrew, is often analyzed into three broad blocks that echo both its syntax and theology:
Address and reverence: Calling God “Our Father” or “Our Father, Our King” and acknowledging God’s exalted position in heaven. This is a relational and liturgical opening that orients the worshiper toward God.
Petitions for God’s reign and will: Asking for the kingdom to come and for God’s will to be done, both in heaven and on earth. This aligns the community with cosmic priorities and divine purposes.
Daily needs and moral guidance: Requests for daily sustenance, forgiveness, guidance away from temptation, and deliverance from evil. Each element emphasizes the daily reality of human life and the need for divine aid in living a righteous life.
In Hebrew, the language often emphasizes the parallelism between heaven and earth. The line כְּמוֹ שֶׁבַּשָּמַיִם, כֵּן בָּאָרֶץ explicitly ties earthly life to heavenly patterns, a concept that has been central in Jewish and Christian exegesis alike.
Historical and linguistic notes: Hebrew renderings of a New Testament prayer
It is important to understand that the Lord’s Prayer in Hebrew does not have one single original “Hebrew version” from the ancient texts, because the New Testament was originally composed in Greek. What exists is a number of later translations and adaptations into Hebrew for use in worship, catechesis, and study. Some translators draw from Greek text theories, others from Aramaic background or from liturgical tradition. In many Christian communities, the Hebrew text you see here reflects:
The standard biblical-like Hebrew style used in the late 19th and 20th centuries by Hebrew-language Christian Bible societies.
A practical Modern Hebrew pronunciation that makes the prayer accessible to contemporary Hebrew speakers.
A parallel liturgical tradition (the Avinu Malkeinu form) that shows how the same theological ideas can be expressed with different imagery (Father vs Father and King).
For learners who want to recite the Hebrew Lord’s Prayer with accuracy, here are practical tips:
Start with the individual phrases and practice the line-by-line rhythm. Hebrew poetry and parallelism often favors balanced cadence; hearing an audio recording can help.
Practice accentuation of the syllables. Modern Hebrew generally stresses the last syllable of a closed syllable, but in liturgical Hebrew, pay attention to cantillation marks if you study them.
Use a transliteration as a bridge, but aim to internalize the Hebrew pronunciation so you can move from transliteration to actual Hebrew reading.
Be aware of small textual variations in different Hebrew editions. The meaning remains consistent, but punctuation and line breaks can differ.
Comparative notes: key differences across Hebrew renditions
To appreciate how the text can vary, consider these contrasts:
Opening address: “Our Father in heaven” vs “Our Father, Our King in heaven” (the latter emphasizes God’s rule and sovereignty in Jewish liturgy).
Word order and small grammatical variations, such as תָּבוֹא vs יִהְיֶה and כַּאֲשֶׁר סָלַחְנוּ vs כְּאֵשֶׁר סָלַחְנוּ, reflect different manuscript traditions and editorial choices.
Lexical choices for “daily bread”: some renderings employ a phrase that literally means “bread for today” or “bread for our days,” while others adopt a closer literal equivalent to the Greek concept of “daily bread.”
Phrase for temptation: the essential sense is preserved, but some editions render the phrase as a request not to be led into trials or to be kept from the hour of trial, aligning with the broader theological concerns in various communities.
Practical considerations for readers and worshippers
If you are integrating the Hebrew Lord’s Prayer into study or worship, consider the following practicalities:
Choose a version that aligns with the community’s theological emphasis (e.g., the traditional “Our Father in heaven” for a more direct Christian Hebrew text,
