“Lead Us Not into Temptation”

Alan C. Miner

According to Angela Crowell, many readers have wondered why the Lord's prayer is worded differently in the Book of Mormon and the Inspired Version of the Bible. In 3 Nephi 13:12 the verse reads "lead us not into temptation," and in Matthew 6:14 (I.V.) the verse reads "suffer us not to be led into temptation." It is interesting that even though Joseph Smith revised the Book of Mormon manuscript in 1837, he did not change the wording to agree with the Inspired Version of the Bible. Perhaps the Seer did not consider this difference to be a mistake.

In E. W. Bullinger's book (Figures of Speech Used in the Bible: Explained and Illustrated, 1898) the author gives reference to this New Testament scripture. . . . In his chapter on Hebrew idioms and idiomatic usages of verbs, the author presents several rules and examples of active verbs including the following: "Active verbs were used by the Hebrews to express, not the doing of the thing, but the permission of the thing which the agent is said to do." Two examples from the Old Testament are Exodus 4:21 and Jeremiah 4:10. In Exodus 4:21 we read in the King James Version: "I will harden his heart (i.e., I will permit or suffer his heart to be hardened), that he shall not let the people go." In Jeremiah 4:10: "Lord God, surely thou hast greatly deceived this people (i.e., "Thou hast suffered this people to be greatly deceived, by the false prophets, saying: Ye shall have peace, etc.")

The most important example of this idiomatic usage in the New Testament is Matthew 6:13 (I.V. 6:14). Bullinger interprets the passage this way: "Lead us not (i.e., suffer us not to be led) into temptation." Numerous Bible commentaries support Bullinger's statement on this scripture. . . . Thus, the phrase "lead us not into temptation" is a Hebrew idiom strictly translated in the Book of Mormon. "Suffer us not to be led into temptation" is correctly interpreted into English in the Inspired Version of the Bible. Obviously Joseph was a Seer in the truest sense of the word. [Angela Crowell, "Lead Us Not Into Temptation," in Recent Book of Mormon Developments, Vol. 1, p. 63]

Step by Step Through the Book of Mormon: A Cultural Commentary

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