Short answer: in Matthew 6:12, the Greek text uses words from the semantic field of debt and debtor. That is why Portuguese translations such as Almeida Revista e Atualizada (ARA), Nova Almeida Atualizada (NAA), and Almeida Revista e Corrigida (ARC) retain “dívidas/devedores” (“debts/debtors”). Others, such as Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje (NTLH), prefer “ofensas” (“offenses”), while some versions make the meaning explicit as “sins.” These choices do not have to be treated as conflicting Bibles: they can represent different ways of translating the same moral metaphor.
What the Greek text says in Matthew 6:12
In Matthew 6:12, the Greek noun is opheilēmata (ὀφειλήματα), the plural of a word referring to what is owed, a debt, or an obligation. In the second half of the verse, opheiletais (ὀφειλέταις) appears, meaning “debtors.” The lexical structure therefore directly supports a rendering equivalent to “forgive us our debts ... our debtors.” The Greek can be checked in an interlinear analysis of Matthew 6:12.
That does not require the reader to understand the petition as a prayer about loans or financial accounts. In the context of the Lord’s Prayer, “debt” functions as an image of an unfulfilled moral obligation and guilt that needs forgiveness. In other words, financial vocabulary points to the field of sin and offense. Translating the form of the metaphor and making its meaning explicit are both possible translation decisions.
How five Portuguese translations handle the phrase
| Version | Key wording in Portuguese | What the choice emphasizes |
|---|---|---|
| ARA | “dívidas / devedores” | Directly preserves the Greek lexical metaphor. |
| NAA | “dívidas / devedores” | Retains the same image of obligation and remission. |
| ARC | “dívidas / devedores” | Follows the Almeida tradition in this verse. |
| NTLH | “ofensas / pessoas que nos ofenderam” | Makes the moral sense explicit in everyday language. |
| VFL | “pecados / os que pecam contra nós” | States the interpretation of the metaphor directly; the consulted edition notes that the term is literally “debts.” |
ARA can be checked at Matthew 6:12, and NAA at Matthew 6:12. The Bible Gateway comparison page places ARC, NTLH, VFL, and other Portuguese versions side by side. The key point is that the variation lies in how the metaphor is expressed, not in an arbitrary change of subject.
Why Almeida translations can use “ofensas” in Matthew 6:14–15
The question becomes sharper because, immediately after the Lord’s Prayer, Matthew 6:14–15 discusses forgiveness and several Almeida translations use “ofensas” (“offenses”). This is not merely an editorial inconsistency. The Greek text itself changes vocabulary: in 6:14, paraptōmata (παραπτώματα) appears, a term associated with trespasses, transgressions, or offenses, instead of opheilēmata, “debts,” in 6:12. The shift can be seen in the Greek analysis of Matthew 6:14.
A translation can therefore legitimately keep “dívidas” in 6:12 and use “ofensas” in 6:14–15. In the ARA, for example, the alternation is clear. Context matters: verses 14–15 explain the theme of forgiveness immediately after the prayer and help readers understand that the “debt” of verse 12 is moral and relational.
Luke 11:4 makes the link between sin and debt even more explicit
Luke’s form of the Lord’s Prayer provides a useful comparison. In Luke 11:4, the petition begins with “sins,” while the next clause uses the language of someone being “in debt” to another person. A translation note in the NET Bible observes that the Greek in the second part is literally “everyone who is indebted to us” and identifies sin-as-debt as the underlying image.
This does not mean that Matthew and Luke are word-for-word identical. It means that, within the two Gospel forms of the prayer, “sin,” “offense,” and “debt” occupy the same semantic field when forgiveness is in view. Luke helps explain why a translation of Matthew may make “sins” or “offenses” explicit without importing a foreign theme into the text.
Translation, interpretation, and liturgical tradition are not the same thing
Translation
Translation is the decision about how to represent the words and relationships of a source text in another language. In Matthew 6:12, “dívidas/devedores” reproduces the Greek lexical metaphor more visibly; “ofensas” or “pecados” makes the contextual meaning more explicit. No serious translation is purely mechanical: even a version that stays close to the form of the original must choose word order, syntax, vocabulary, and how much to explain.
Interpretation
Interpretation asks what the sentence means in context. Here, reading “debts” as moral guilt does not depend on a dictionary alone. It is reinforced by Matthew 6:14–15, which develops the subject of forgiven offenses, and by Luke 11:4, which places “sins” and debt language side by side. Interpretation gives the metaphor its contextual sense; it does not silently replace Matthew 6:12’s Greek noun.
Liturgical tradition
The form recited in a religious community may follow an established liturgical tradition and does not necessarily reproduce, word for word, the Bible edition a person reads at home. In Portuguese Catholic usage, for example, the wording “perdoai-nos as nossas ofensas” appears in the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and in material from the CNBB. That liturgical wording expresses the meaning of the petition, but it does not change the textual fact that Matthew 6:12 uses the Greek noun for “debts.”
So is “debts” or “offenses” the correct translation?
The two forms answer slightly different questions. “Debts” displays Matthew’s image more clearly; “offenses” communicates to a modern reader the moral reality represented by that image. “Sins” makes the same interpretation even more direct and gains comparative support from Luke 11:4. The comparison therefore should not begin with the assumption that one of these words automatically proves the other version wrong.
A better question is what a given translation is trying to do: preserve the source-text metaphor, make it immediately understandable, or balance both goals. It is also useful to identify the exact edition, because version names and revisions change over time and digital platforms do not always display the same edition.
How to compare Matthew 6:12 without turning translation differences into errors
- Read the verse with its immediate context: Matthew 6:12 presents the debt metaphor; 6:14–15 makes the theme of offenses and forgiveness explicit.
- Compare Luke 11:4: the pairing of “sins” with debt language shows that the concepts are linked within the Gospel tradition itself.
- Separate biblical text from liturgical wording: a traditional prayer may use “ofensas” even when a particular Bible translation prints “dívidas.”
- Identify the edition: when comparing apps, websites, or printed Bibles, check the full version name and revision year when available.
- Do not demand word-for-word equivalence across translations: versions may preserve a figure of speech or make its meaning explicit without abandoning the central content.
The difference among “dívidas,” “ofensas,” and “pecados” in Matthew 6:12 is therefore best understood as a matter of metaphor, translation strategy, and tradition of use. Matthew’s Greek preserves the image of debt; Matthew’s context and Luke’s parallel make clear that the petition concerns the forgiveness of human guilt and wrongdoing.
Sources checked
- Bíblia Online — Matthew 6:12, ARA
- Bíblia Online — Matthew 6:12, NAA
- Bible Gateway — Portuguese version comparison
- BibleHub — Greek text analysis of Matthew 6:12
- BibleHub — Greek text analysis of Matthew 6:14
- NET Bible — Luke 11:4 and translation note
- Vatican — Compendium of the Catechism, Portuguese form of the Lord’s Prayer
- CNBB — “A oração cristã”
