Lukas 7:41-42

7:41 “A certain creditor ¹  had two debtors; one owed him ²  five hundred silver coins, ³  and the other fifty. 7:42 When they could not pay, he canceled ⁴  the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

Lukas 11:4

11:4 and forgive us our sins,

for we also forgive everyone who sins ⁵  against us.

And do not lead us into temptation.” ⁶ 

Matius 6:12

6:12 and forgive us our debts, as we ourselves ⁷  have forgiven our debtors.

Matius 18:24

18:24 As ⁸  he began settling his accounts, a man who owed ten thousand talents ⁹  was brought to him.

¹ sn A creditor was a moneylender, whose business was to lend money to others at a fixed rate of interest.

² tn The word “him” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

³ tn Grk “five hundred denarii.”

sn The silver coins were denarii. The denarius was worth about a day’s wage for a laborer; this would be an amount worth not quite two years’ pay. The debts were significant: They represented two months’ pay and one and three quarter years’ pay (20 months) based on a six day work week.

⁴ tn The verb ἐχαρίσατο (ecarisato) could be translated as “forgave.” Of course this pictures the forgiveness of God’s grace, which is not earned but bestowed with faith (see v. 49).

⁵ tn Grk “who is indebted to us” (an idiom). The picture of sin as debt is not unusual. As for forgiveness offered and forgiveness given, see 1 Pet 3:7.

⁶ tc Most mss (א¹ A C D W Θ Ψ 070 ˹³ 33 Ï it sy^c,p,h) add “but deliver us from the evil one,” an assimilation to Matt 6:13. The shorter reading has better attestation (Ì⁷⁵ א*^,2 B L 1 700 pc vg sa Or). Internally, since the mss that have the longer reading here display the same tendency throughout the Lord’s Prayer to assimilate the Lukan version to the Matthean version, the shorter reading should be regarded as authentic in Luke.

tn Or “into a time of testing.”

sn The request Do not lead us into temptation is not to suggest that God causes temptation, but is a rhetorical way to ask for his protection from sin.

⁷ tn Or “as even we.” The phrase ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς (Jw" kai Jhmei") makes ἡμεῖς emphatic. The translation above adds an appropriate emphasis to the passage.

⁸ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

⁹ sn A talent was a huge sum of money, equal to 6,000 denarii. One denarius was the usual day’s wage for a worker. L&N 6.82 states, “a Greek monetary unit (also a unit of weight) with a value which fluctuated, depending upon the particular monetary system which prevailed at a particular period of time (a silver talent was worth approximately six thousand denarii with gold talents worth at least thirty times that much).”