ESTUDIO DEL VERSÍCULO
Matthew 6:11 — Daily Bread in the Lord's Prayer
Matthew 6:11 is the fourth petition of the Lord's Prayer, asking the Father for today's bread.
Escritura
- 11.El pan nuestro de cada día, dánoslo hoy.Give us this day our daily bread.
Qué significa este pasaje
Matthew 6:11 reads: 'Give us this day our daily bread.' As the fourth petition of the Lord's Prayer (6:9–13), it is the first request that turns from God's name, kingdom, and will (6:9–10) to the needs of the petitioner. The plural 'us' and the present 'this day' show that the prayer is corporate and daily rather than a once-for-all request, matching the chapter's recurring theme that the Father who sees in secret supplies what is needed (6:4, 6:6, 6:8).
The petition is framed as a request, not a demand: 'Give us' assumes the Father is the giver and the disciples are dependents. The contrast with the surrounding material is deliberate. Immediately before the prayer Jesus warns against anxious accumulation (6:19–24) and immediately after he forbids anxious provision for tomorrow (6:25–34). Verse 11 sits inside that arc, so daily bread is taught alongside — not against — freedom from worry.
At the same time, 'bread' in this prayer is not reduced to literal food. The same Matthew records Jesus saying, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God' (4:4), and later presents Jesus himself as 'the bread of life' (John 6:31, 35). Read within Scripture, the simple line 'our daily bread' acknowledges physical need while leaving room for the deeper need that the Son satisfies.
Contexto
Matthew 6 is part of the Sermon on the Mount and addresses three acts of piety that the audience already practices — almsgiving (6:1–4), prayer (6:5–15), and fasting (6:16–18) — redirecting each from public display to the Father who 'seeth in secret.' The prayer section opens with the warning against hypocritical, repetitive praying (6:5–8) and then supplies the model prayer (6:9–13), followed by the comment on forgiveness (6:14–15).
Within that prayer, 6:11 is the hinge between the first three God-centered petitions ('Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done,' 6:9–10) and the following petitions that mention forgiveness (6:12), temptation (6:13a), and evil (6:13b). It is also the verse that anticipates the chapter's closing argument against anxiety about food and clothing (6:25–34), where the Father is said to 'know that ye have need of all these things' (6:32). The cross reference list reflects both the physical-supply line (Proverbs 30:8; Psalms 34:10; Isaiah 33:16) and the spiritual-bread line (Matthew 4:4; John 6:31, 59; Job 23:12).
Luke 11:3 is generally recognized as the parallel wording of this petition in Luke's version of the Lord's Prayer; whether the two Gospels record the same occasion or two different teachings is a question on which scholars differ.
Palabras clave del original
- G0740 ἄρτος (artos), the noun rendered 'bread,' denotes ordinary baked bread or food more generally. In the Lord's Prayer it names the basic daily staple the petitioner asks the Father to supply.
- G1967 ἐπιούσιος (epiousios) is a rare adjective that occurs only here and in Luke 11:3 in the Greek New Testament. The provided lexical note derives it from ἐπί ('for, pertaining to') combined with a participle related to εἰμί ('to be'), yielding the sense 'for subsistence / needful,' i.e. the bread required for the day. Translations vary ('daily,' 'this day's,' 'for tomorrow'); the precise nuance is debated.
- G1325 δίδωμι (didōmi), 'to give,' is a wide-ranging verb used both of human giving and of God's giving. Here the second-person aorist imperative 'δὸς' (dos) frames the request as a simple petition to a Father who gives, echoing the chapter's repeated picture of the Father who 'seeth in secret' and 'shall recompense thee' (6:4, 6, 18).
Versículos relacionados
- Proverbs 30:8 Agur's prayer asks to be fed with 'the food that is needful,' echoing the spirit of Matthew 6:11 — enough for the day, not excess or want. Both texts frame daily provision as a request rather than an entitlement.
- Matthew 4:4 In the same Gospel, Jesus replies to temptation with 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.' Read alongside 6:11, the prayer for bread assumes, but is not exhausted by, physical food.
- Luke 11:3 Luke's parallel wording of the same petition is often taken as evidence of a shared source behind the Lord's Prayer. The two versions differ slightly in phrasing — Matthew has 'this day,' Luke 'day by day' — and the relationship between the two Gospel accounts is a matter on which scholars differ.
Preguntas frecuentes
Is Matthew 6:11 asking only for literal food?
The verse names ordinary 'bread,' so it plainly acknowledges physical need. Matthew 4:4 and John 6, however, show that the same Gospel tradition uses 'bread' to point beyond physical food. The petition is best read as recognizing bodily need while leaving room for that wider sense, rather than as a request that excludes it.
Why does the prayer use 'us' and 'this day' rather than 'me' and 'always'?
The plural 'us' shapes the prayer as a community petition, and 'this day' limits it to present need. Together they match the chapter's emphasis on a Father who already knows what is needed (6:8, 6:32) and on freedom from anxious stockpiling (6:19–24, 6:25–34).
How does this petition relate to the surrounding teaching on anxiety?
Matthew 6:11 sits between the warning against storing up treasure (6:19–24) and the command not to be anxious about food, drink, or clothing (6:25–34). The prayer does not contradict that teaching; it expresses the same trust by asking the Father for today's bread rather than by securing tomorrow on one's own.