14 May The Lord’s Prayer in Old English – Anglo Saxon
Today we would like to share a version of the Lord’s Prayer in Old English (Anglo Saxon). For many of us, our only experience with Old English is reading the classic Old English book Beowulf. However, we also have a version of the Lord’s Prayer in the West Saxon literary dialect.
Old English itself is the earliest historical form of the English language, having been brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th century (around 7000 years after the building on Stonehenge). By the mid-late 11th century, Old English developed into Middle English, the language of Geoffrey Chaucer and his famous work Canterbury Tales.
The Our Father Prayer in Anglo Saxon
Fæder ūre þū þe eart on heofonum
Father of ours, thou who art in heavens,
SÄ« þīn nama Ä¡ehÄlgod.
Be thy name hallowed.
TÅbecume þīn rÄ«Ä‹e,
Come thy kingdom,
Ä¡ewurþe þīn willa, on eorðan swÄ swÄ on heofonum.
manifest thy will, on earth as also in heaven.
Ūre Ä¡edæġhwÄmlÄ«can hlÄf syle Å«s tÅ dæġ,
Our daily loaf do sell (give) to us today,
and forÄ¡yf Å«s Å«re gyltas, swÄ swÄ wÄ“ forÄ¡yfað Å«rum gyltendum.
And forgive us our guilts as also we forgive our guilters
And ne Ä¡elÇ£d þū Å«s on costnunge, ac Älȳs Å«s of yfele.
And do not lead thou us into temptation, but alese release us of evil.
SÅþlÄ«Ä‹e.
Soothly.
You can compare this historical version of the Lord’s Prayer in Old English (Anglo Saxon) with the King James version by going to: The Lord’s Prayer KJV.
To read Living Hour’s contemporary interpretation of the Our Father Prayer, please go to: The Lord’s Prayer Explained. Our verse by verse commentary is supported by over 200 gospel citations, and is a great resource for spiritual progressives of all faiths.