In 2017, I changed the way I pray forever.

You're Probably Using "Thee" and "Thou" for the Wrong Reason

I had the chance to meet the president of the Paris France Temple. I asked him a single question. His answer completely changed my perspective on prayer.

But before I tell you the question and answer, we need a short grammar lesson. Don’t worry, it’ll be painless.

In English today, the word you does everything. It's singular. It's plural. It's subject. It's object. If a teacher walks into a classroom and says, "I'm going to give you an A," the students have no idea whether to cheer or shoot a look at the Hermione in the front row.

But it wasn't always this way.

Centuries ago, Old English had separate words for all of this:

• Thou — singular subject ("Thou art my friend")
• Thee — singular object ("I give this to thee")
• Ye — plural subject
• You — plural object

Over time, you replaced everything else. Thou, thee, and ye quietly disappeared—almost.

They survived in one place: prayer.

The Man Who Wrote a 200-Page Rant Book About "You"

Here's where it gets interesting. As English was switching over, thou and thee started to carry a social stigma. You became the polite, formal address for people of high standing. Thou was demoted to servants and social inferiors.

George Fox, founder of the Quaker movement, was furious about this. He felt it was enforcing a social class system that had no place in how people treated each other. So the Quakers stubbornly kept using thou and thee with everybody, regardless of rank.

Yeah, that didn't go over well.

Fox got so upset that in 1660 he wrote a 200-page book about the use of the word you. You might understand why it's 200 pages when you read the title:

A Battle-door for Teachers & Professors to Learn Singular & Plural You to Many, and Thou to One, Singular One, Thou, Plural Many, You

Note: A battle-door (alt. sp. battledore) had a double meaning. It was a wooden paddle used to hit a feathered shuttlecock (a precursor to badminton). It was also an alphabet teaching board children used in early grammar school. In essence, Fox is saying: let me hit you over the head with a lesson so simple a child could understand.

In the book, Fox made this point—paraphrasing into modern English—They'll say thee and thou to God and Christ, but beat us up if we say it to them?

He also noted that proud men would say to Quakers: "What! You ill-bred clown, do you Thou me?"

But sadly Fox’s 200-page diatribe didn’t work. In the end “you” won out.

What France Taught Me

For most of my life, I believed that thee and thou were the formal version of you. I was told to use them to show reverence. I assumed that meant we use them to address Heavenly Father to remind ourselves that He is way up in heaven and we are way down here on earth. He's big. I'm little. He’s great. I’m not.

Then I attended church in France.

People were praying to Heavenly Father using tu. If you know French, you know there are two common ways to address someone directly:

• Tu — used for close friends and family
• Vous — used in formal situations

My American brain immediately concluded that the French members just didn't know better. Obviously they should be using the formal vous when speaking to Heavenly Father. Right?

I am embarrassed to type that. But I thought it.

Then I attended the Paris Temple and discovered that the official temple ceremony addresses Heavenly Father using the informal tu.

After the session, I met the temple president, who was from the United States. This was my chance to say out loud what I didn’t dare say to my French friends: why?

His face answered before his words did. It was the look someone gives when they're trying to figure out how you could ask such a strange question.

Then he said:

"Because God is our Father."

What We've Had Backwards

Here's what I hadn't understood: thou was never the formal word. It was the intimate word.

Even while thou was being used dismissively on servants, it was being used tenderly on people you loved. Family. Close friends. And God.

This is exactly what George Fox was pointing out—the irony of people being willing to use thou on God but taking offense if someone used it on them.

The LDS Bible Dictionary says it plainly:

"As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are His children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part."

And the next sentence:

"Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship."

So Should We Stop Using Thee and Thou?

No—the opposite, actually. I suggest we make more of an effort to use these words. Not to sound reverent, formal or old-fashioned. Not to be "heard of men." But as a small, quiet reminder to ourselves: we are not addressing a distant judge. We are children talking to our Parent.

Or don’t. Keep using you if you want to.

What I would suggest is that we stop judging people who pray using you. It's hard for me to imagine a loving Parent saying, "I'd like to answer your prayer, but you used the wrong pronoun, so—too bad."

Whether you say thee, tu, or simply you, you're God's child. That's the point. Prayer becomes hard when we forget the relationship, not when we use the “wrong” pronoun.

Wishing you a great Sabbath,

Heather Ruth Pack

Continue the Study

How to Use the “Intimate You”

• Thou — subject: "Thou art my refuge"
• Thee — object: "I give this to thee"
• Thy — possessive before a noun: "Thy will be done"
• Thine — possessive pronoun: "The glory is thine"
• Thyself — reflexive: "Thou knowest thyself"

Question to Ponder

When you pray, do your words help you remember that you are speaking to a loving parent?

From My Study Desk

I recently created a Bible translation guide to help readers navigate the strengths and limitations of different English translations. As a thank-you for being part of this newsletter community, you can download it below.

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​Did Jesus Really Say That? A Non-scholarly Guide for Everyday Bible Readers

​Did_Jesus_Really_Say_That_Heather_Ruth_Pack.pdf​

About Times of Faith

Times of Faith explores the historical world of scripture, the language behind the text, and the voices often overlooked in familiar biblical stories.

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