I don't understand what the confusion is all about. Isn't it pretty clear cut from the etymology of the word what it means?
I interpret epiousios to mean, 'that which is of substance', or just 'substantial', from the epi- prefix and the root word 'ousia'.
In Modern Greek, the word 'epiousio' (missing the final -s, in the nominative neuter singular) just means 'the crux of the matter', or more simply just 'that which is relevant'.
I get that the connotation of epiousios may be closer to sustenance in that passage, but I don't see where 'daily' comes from. The last word of that phrase is 'σήμερον', which means 'today' -- is that where the confusion is coming from?
God provided food to the Jews as they wandered the desert, after leaving Egypt. Manna, which was this magical bread-like substance, fell from heaven. The translation of Manna is basically "What is it?".
A huge amount fell. God told them to eat their fill, but don't save it. The hungry wanderers ate to their contentment, and some of them stored the left over manna in jars. That leftover manna was rotten and spoiled the next day, but God sent them more.
God could've dropped magical non-expiring bread. Instead he dropped preservative-free no-shelf-life bread, and told them to trust that he would provide for them.
I've always interpreted the "daily bread" as being a reference to the manna. It seemed like it was acknowledging that they need to trust God day-to-day. It's not a one time "Here is the solution to all future concerns", its a daily trust.
So I think the debate is, if one wants to have it, is the prayer saying "give us our bare minimum to survive" or "give us our plenty that comes with an implicit trust that the plenty will continue"
But its a weird concern to have IMO. Especially since Jesus likely never spoke the word epiousios at all, he probably said something in Aramaic or Hebrew or something. I'm also in the "This wasn't a literal 'say these words' guide, it was an example." Both instructions seem in line with the rest of what Jesus was teaching; be thankful and trust God.
Interesting; it almost sounds like it could be translated as “expires each day, refreshed each day” — i.e. it’s “ephemeral” bread. Kind of like “daily”, but “daily” in the sense of “daily news” — it has a one-day shelf-life.
Interestingly enough, per TFA, the Gospel of the Hebrews (via Jerome; in modernity we lack any complete copies of this) used the word "ma[h]ar" implying the "for tomorrow" translation.
> 31 Now a wind went out from the Lord and drove quail in from the sea. It scattered them up to two cubits deep all around the camp, as far as a day’s walk in any direction.
> 32 All that day and night and all the next day the people went out and gathered quail. No one gathered less than ten homers. Then they spread them out all around the camp.
> 33 But while the meat was still between their teeth and before it could be consumed, the anger of the Lord burned against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague.
The quails were punishment. They complained about not having meat to eat even when God was sending them magical bread from the skies. So he sent them a plague of quails, so to speak.
Yup, the "daily" part is a bit obscure and the Wiki article doesn't explain it very well. It turns out that it's inferred, by analogy with the fact that 'daily' was very commonly implied in similar contexts. It's a natural analogy if you think 'epiousios' relates to something like "necessary sustenance".
Have you heard of the Arian heresy [1]? It was THE major debate in the early church and it was centered on whether Jesus and god were the same substance (Homoousia) or somehow on a different level (as advocated by Arius). The Nicene Creed (325 AD) established homoousia as a necessary principle on being Christian. This was very political — the emperor Constantine got personally involved.
So, in the context of this recent event, imagine Jerome translating the lord's prayer and dealing with a word that appears to imply multiple levels of substance. Rather than encouraging more heresies, he used a colloquial translation.
Except Jerome coined the latin word "supersubstantial" to translate this and considered, but rejected, the alternative translation of "for the future" that could have completely avoided bringing substance into it at all.
I'm familiar with this prayer in Arabic, and two variations thereof (one used by Catholics and the other by Eastern Orthodox churches).
The Catholic one would translate to 'enough for the day' (كفاف يومنا) and the Orthodox to 'essential' or 'necessary' (جوهري). Both seem closer to what your wrote than 'daily'
I interpret epiousios to mean, 'that which is of substance', or just 'substantial', from the epi- prefix and the root word 'ousia'.
In Modern Greek, the word 'epiousio' (missing the final -s, in the nominative neuter singular) just means 'the crux of the matter', or more simply just 'that which is relevant'.
I get that the connotation of epiousios may be closer to sustenance in that passage, but I don't see where 'daily' comes from. The last word of that phrase is 'σήμερον', which means 'today' -- is that where the confusion is coming from?
What am I missing here?