Jesus's Teaching on Prayer, Part 11
The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory
Matthew 6v13C
14th November 2025
The following words are absent from most modern English translations of the Bible. However, they, or very similar words, are found in older versions including the Authorised Version, the King James Bible:
Matthew 6v13c
"For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory. Amen."
Unsurprisingly, we do not have the original of any book of the Bible. We do, however, have very many early copies of all of them. Not all these manuscripts are identical, and much academic work has been done to resolve the differences. This has resulted in very high levels of confidence in over 99% of the Bible. Nevertheless, uncertainty remains about a small number of texts, including this one. It seems that most early manuscripts do not contain these words but several later ones do. Because translators must make judgements about which manuscripts to translate from, these words occur in some translations but not in others.
Generally speaking, the Authorized Version of the Bible takes a "maximalist" approach, including several passages that are included in some but not all manuscripts, giving those passages what we might think of as "the benefit of the doubt". Most modern translations take what might be called a "minimalist" approach, including only those passages where they are found in sufficiently large number of manuscripts to give very high confidence that they were in the original document.
This passage is typical of most of the "uncertain" texts in that it contains nothing that is not consistent with the rest of the Bible. That is, even if these are not words spoken by Jesus Christ at the end of the prayer He taught us, they are godly, true and helpful.
I have decided to include a study of these words: because they might have been spoken by Jesus; because they are beautiful, helpful and true; because they provide a superb ending to the Lord's Prayer; and because they are familiar to, and much loved by, many Christian people. As I have explained above, I am not claiming to be certain that they were in the original version of Matthew's Gospel, or that they were not.
We say, "For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory." It's good to acknowledge and celebrate that God is the king, that God is omnipotent and that God is absolutely glorious. We also say these words because they remind us of the basis of everything we've prayed so far, the solid ground that gives us confidence to pray:
- We've prayed "Your kingdom come" because God is the King of the universe, and we want to experience His kingdom more and more.
- We've prayed "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" because God is a good king. He rules in heaven where there is no rebellion, and He rules on earth where there is still a lot of rebellion. We pray for the end of this rebellion, because obedience to His rule is pure and good and leads to eternal life, and disobedience to his rule is sin and leads to death.
- We've prayed "Give us our daily bread" because God is powerful and can supply all our needs.
- We've prayed "Forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors" because the King of the universe has authority to forgive sins, and because the example He sets by forgiving all our sins causes us to forgive the sins of other people.
- We've prayed "Lead us not into temptation" because we want our lives to please and glorify our King, and God has authority over all creatures, including the devil. God decides what temptations, what trials, we will undergo.
- We've prayed "Deliver us from evil" because we want to live pure, clean, holy, godly lives in the presence of our God for all eternity, and God has the power to make that happen.
This last part of the Lord's prayer or, if you prefer, this addition to the Lord's Prayer, reminds us of the greatness of the God we are praying to. Can He answer our prayers? Yes! He is the king over all kings. His power is absolute. His glory is beyond our power to imagine.