I had been meditating on the Lord's Prayer and its curious optatives; then, browsing a little further, I came upon a remarkable little video from the Talmidi Jewish community, which gives a reconstruction of the prayer in Galilean Aramaic, the dialect Jesus spoke. It's a reconstruction, because no original version of it in the language is known; but it is borne out by one or two other specialist websites and seems accurate. The prayer as reconstructed here and then re-translated seems to me not only quite beautiful but entirely acceptable to a Christian -- indeed, as the speaker says, it clears away a few bumps that those dealing with the traditional Greek-based Christian version stumble over. I particularly like both his view of the prayer's twofold organisation and his explanation of the final three petitions. Here is the link. I'll return to the optatives in my next.
