Matthew 6:13: why some Bibles end the Lord’s Prayer here and others do not
13And lead us not into temptation. But free us from evil. Amen.
Two petitions, and the first is the most argued-over line in the prayer: the wording suggests, in several languages, that God might lead someone into temptation. This edition closes with an Amen but without the kingdom-and-power line many English readers know from the King James Version.
Short answer
Matthew 6:13 closes the Lord’s Prayer with two petitions: not to be led into temptation, and to be freed from evil. The line about kingdom, power and glory is not in the oldest Greek manuscripts of Matthew, which is why editions differ. This edition ends with an Amen and no doxology.
- Written by
- Maria Luisa Navarro Schmitt
- Reviewed by
- Raphael Navarro Schmitt
- Published on
- Reading time
- 2 min read
It is the line of the Lord’s Prayer that raises two frequent and unrelated questions: why the prayer ends differently in different Bibles, and why anyone would ask God for something he would not do.
Where this verse appears
The Lord’s Prayer appears in the Sermon on the Mount, right after Jesus corrects prayer performed to impress. It is offered as a model, and it is short on purpose.
Luke’s version is shorter still and does not carry this closing petition in the same form. Comparing the two helps show that the text was handed on as a model rather than as a fixed word-for-word formula.
What it says
The first petition generates the most discussion. The wording, in Greek and in translation, sounds as though God might lead someone into temptation — which the letter of James explicitly denies. Proposed readings include taking the verb as permitting, or taking the request as asking not to be abandoned in the hour of testing. In 2019 the Catholic Church adopted a different wording in Italian, which revived the debate. None of the readings is obligatory, and this site does not choose between them.
The second petition is simpler and wider. The word rendered evil can be read as evil in general or as the evil one, and both readings appear in serious translations.
On the doxology — kingdom, power and glory — the fact is textual and uncontested. It is not in the oldest Greek manuscripts of Matthew, and it appears in a very early Christian document connected with liturgical use. That is why editions differ: some follow the oldest manuscripts, others the tradition of use. The difference is not doctrinal.
What to do with it today
If you pray the Lord’s Prayer in a community and miss the ending you grew up with, now you know why. The difference is one of manuscript base and liturgical tradition, and it does not mean one version has got it wrong.
And there is a use for the first petition that does not depend on the debate. Asking not to enter temptation is admitting that willpower has a limit — and that avoiding the situation is more realistic than resisting inside it.
What the passages say
9Therefore, you shall pray in this way: Our Father, who is in heaven: May your name be kept holy.
The start of the same prayer, four verses earlier. Reading the whole thing shows the proportions: more petitions about bread, forgiveness and protection than about anything else.
41Be vigilant and pray, so that you may not enter into temptation. Indeed, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Jesus repeats the word temptation in Gethsemane, tying it to watching and praying. It is the practical application of the petition, made on the hardest night.
A prayer to carry with you
Father, free me from what I cannot face, and take me away from what knocks me down. Do not leave me alone in the hour of testing. Amen.