3 Nephi 13:9-13

Brant Gardner

There are three important differences between these verses and the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9¬–13. The first is the addition of “after this manner therefore pray ye” at the beginning of verse 1. That change clarifies that this is a model rather than a dictated form of prayer. The difference between an example and a fixed text suggests that prayer should be personalized, and not use these very words as though they had a specific power above the nature of an example. To do so might elevate them to the “vain repetitions” of verse 7 of this chapter.

The second is that “thy kingdom come” is removed from the beginning of Matthew 6:10. There is no context to tell us why that phrase was omitted, but it is possible that it is the suggestion that the resurrected Christ standing before them represented the ushering in of that kingdom.

The third change is that Matthew 6:11, “Give us this day our daily bread” has been removed entirely (Orson Pratt split the Matthean verse 13 into two verses to be able to keep the verse numbers the same). There is no clear reason for the elimination of that verse, though it might be related to the absence of bread as a stable in native diets.

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