What Does "επιούσιον" mean?

What Does "επιούσιον" Mean?

In the Gospel of Matthew, it is written: "Give us this day our daily bread," (Matthew 6:11 NASB1995). The word used for "daily" here is heavily debated. It is a hapax legomena, meaning other than in Matthew 6:11 and Luke 11:3 (where it is used verbatim as in Matthew), we have no other usage of this word in any other Greek text. 

Some guesses are "subsistent", "for the coming day", or even "ration" (Falk), but scholars are not confident. 

Origen, a man born in the 2nd century, wrote: "Give us today our Needful Bread, or as Luke has it, Give us daily our Needful Bread," (Origen, On Prayer, Ch. 17).

In the Peshitta, a text filled with Aramaic manuscripts of the Bible and other texts used in the Syriac church, translates it as "need" or "just enough to stay alive" (Bailey).

John Chrysostom, who was born in the fourth century, also wrote: "What is daily bread? That for one day. ... For it is neither for riches, nor for delicate living, nor for costly raiment, nor for any other such thing, but for bread only, that He has commanded us to make our prayer. And for daily bread, so as not to take thought for the morrow. Matthew 6:34 Because of this He added, daily bread, that is, bread for one day. And not even with this expression is He satisfied, but adds another too afterwards, saying, Give us this day; so that we may not, beyond this, wear ourselves out with the care of the following day. For that day, the interval before which you know not whether you shall see, wherefore do you submit to its cares?" (Homily 19 on Matthew, Ch. 8). Scholars nor the early church have any agreement, so we can only make a good guess.

References:

Bailey, Kenneth E.. Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels. United Kingdom, InterVarsity Press, 2009.

Falk, David. "Live Stream #164: Is Dr. Falk The Biblical David?" YouTube, 21 June 2024, https://youtu.be/l7sVUZAXkas.

Image by James Coleman on Unsplash

New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. 

Origen. On Prayer. Translated by William A. Curtis, Christian Classics Ethereal Library, https://ccel.org/ccel/origen/prayer/prayer.xviii.html. Accessed 26 June 2024.

 Translated by George Prevost and revised by M.B. Riddle. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 10. Edited by Philip Schaff. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/200119.htm>.