Ray Brown scripsit:
> That's right - direct translation from the Greek would be:
> "Our father in the heavens"
Wrong. The Greek text says:
<< páter he:môn ho en toîs ouranoîs >>
lit.: father our the-m.sn.N. in the-m.pl.D. heavens
The first definite article _ho_ makes the whole phrase after it an attribute to
the nominal group. So the translations like "who (is/are) in heaven" fits the
text.
Btw, it looks more like a calque from a traditional Hebrew "avinu she
bashamayim"...
> And "who is" would've been condemned as "ungrammatical" after the vocative
> "Our father" and, I guess, would have figured significantly lower.
Oh no. Shifting from 2nd to 3rd person in prayer or benediction is quite normal
in Jewish tradition.
Just my two agoroth...
-- Yitzik