“Why This Book Is Different

Over the centuries many authors have written volumes on this well-known prayer of Jesus. This book, however, approaches each line of the prayer directly from the ancient, biblical Aramaic tongue. When the great Nazarene prophet and wisdom teacher first taught his short prayer to his young students and to the Aramaic-speaking people of Galilee, he uttered it in his own native tongue, Aramaic. Later, the prayer appeared in written form in the gospels of Matthew (Mt. 6:9-13) and Luke (Lk. 11:2-4). The most common and accepted form of the prayer is the one recorded in Matthew. This book works with Jesus’ prayer as we find it in his gospel text. Matthew’s narrative is the first book we encounter in the New Testament. Many scholars think that Matthew wrote his gospel originally in Aramaic.

The Purpose of This Book

The purpose of this volume is to give the reader a new perspective and broader understanding of the basic significance of Jesus’ famous prayer. It explains in ordinary and nontheological terminology, the meaning of the Aramaic words that Jesus spoke. It also clarifies what the words meant to his disciples and followers then, and what these words hold for us today. Through the Aramaic language, we learn how to apply Jesus’ method of prayer for practical everyday living.

The Aramaic prayer of Jesus contains eight attunements that align us with spiritual forces in and around us. This book shows us how the Galilean Master

Teacher taught his disciples to tap into the inexhaustible source and power he called abba, Father. This Source has always been accessible for everyone in every age. It is the way of health, peace, prosperity, and enlightenment.

However, Jesus often seems to many readers of the New Testament to be an idealist rather than a pragmatist. But, the opposite is true. He was a down-to-earth, practical teacher.

What has been standing in our way of understanding Jesus’ message more clearly is the Semitic, religio-cultural language that he used. (In reality, this is the problem we face with the entire New Testament.) This book helps us to break through that religio-cultural language barrier. It is a look into the Semitic world of two thousand years ago, bringing that ancient wisdom into our modern times. Jesus’ prayer is the ideal path for us to enter his Semitic world.”