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So I have seen usages of "Your will be done" in the context when some higher authority is issuing orders but shouldn't it be "Your will will be done"? it makes more semantic sense than the former.

lly
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Perseus14
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  • It's a theological / philosophical subject that goes beyond semantics. Therefore it may seem illogical or incorrect to some people. – Bread Jun 17 '18 at 13:15
  • @Bread No. The semantics are perfectly fine, if perhaps a little archaic. – Mark Beadles Jun 17 '18 at 13:27
  • @Mark Beadles I agree that there is nothing wrong with the semantics as is. I just pointed out that there is a philosophical / theological reason for it being in that tense. – Bread Jun 17 '18 at 13:31
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    Possible duplicate of What is the grammar behind "Thanks be to God"? – Edwin Ashworth Jun 17 '18 at 15:24
  • @EdwinAshworth I don't think this would be a duplicate. That answer is discussing the use of subjunctives while I'm almost positive this is a passive imperative – Fred Hockney Jun 17 '18 at 18:01
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    @Fred Hockney Not according to answers at wordreference.com. And not according to Berk - English syntax: from word to discourse - 1999: << Formulaic subjunctive. English has a small set of phrases and sayings that are so old that they still contain uniquely marked subjunctive verbs. These utterances are learned as whole pieces, often as part of religious liturgy. The expression God bless you contains a third person subject and an uninflected verb. This ... – Edwin Ashworth Jun 17 '18 at 22:40
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    sentence is communicating, not a statement of fact, i.e., 'God blesses you', but rather a wish on the part of the speaker, i.e., 'I hope that God blesses you'. Some remnants of the formulaic subjunctive in Judeo-Christian liturgy are:

    The Lord make his face shine upon thee ...

    Thy kingdom come, thy will be done ...}

     – Edwin Ashworth Jun 17 '18 at 22:40
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    Yeah, @EdwinAshworth is right. Perseus ticked the wrong answer too quickly. – lly Jun 18 '18 at 02:02
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    Sorry for the late response, I want to know whether the usage is correct in modern English. For eg: if Person A (of some high authority) says "Capture him", will the response "Your will be done" appropriate? – Perseus14 Jun 18 '18 at 07:34
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    Ok I just read @IIy's answer and it answers my question – Perseus14 Jun 18 '18 at 07:38
  • Perseus, it's such an archaism/religious term that it might be interpreted in daily conversation as sarcasm. Then again, we don't actually say 'Capture him' in daily conversation either. 'Your will be done' is common enough in religious tracts and (e.g.) sci fi or fantasy. – lly Jun 18 '18 at 08:08

3 Answers3

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The 'will' in "Your will be done" is a noun.

One's intention or decision; someone's orders or commands.

And the 'be' is the imperative form of the verb 'to be'.

So, taken together, "Your will be done" means "May your intention be carried out".

Mark Beadles
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    I've always read this as if it had the implied imperative "let" at the beginning: *Let your will be done*. – hBy2Py Jun 17 '18 at 17:13
  • I would add to the answer that it is the present passive imperative of 'to do' – Fred Hockney Jun 17 '18 at 17:57
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    @FredHockney That is true in Latin & Greek, but English doesn't really have a 'present passive imperative' – Mark Beadles Jun 17 '18 at 18:41
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    I knew all those years studying Greek would be a problem one of these days ... You are right that we really don't have one per se, but this sentence is certainly not active. As @hBy2Py pointed out, if you read the sentence with the implied 'Let' then it does become passive (or at least one of the ways we can express passive in English). Since it is an archaic form, I see no reason not to call it 'passive' so as not to be confused with 'active', which it can not be. – Fred Hockney Jun 17 '18 at 18:48
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    I would read this as [May] your will be done. – arp Jun 17 '18 at 18:54
  • @Sep Ah, so, what...'exhortative'? – hBy2Py Jun 17 '18 at 19:04
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    I always thought the "be" was the subjunctive mood, similiar to saying "may he do well". And then reading it as [May] your will be done, same as @Arp – Bug Catcher Nakata Jun 18 '18 at 00:43
  • @BugCatcherNakata Expressions dealing with 'may' or 'let' this way are subjunctives. People just tend to forget it exists in English and misunderstand them as imperatives. – lly Jun 18 '18 at 01:54
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Like Mr Beadles said, the 'will' here is a noun.

It's not an imperative, though, which would be a command to an implied you to perform the action of the verb. What is actually going on is that it is a jussive (1st or 3rd person command or exhortation or requests in prayer) or optative (hope/wish), which English—apparently along with the rest of the Germanic descendants of PIE—expresses as a form of the subjunctive mood.

Similar to 'thanks be to G-d' or 'G-d be praised', what is being said is

[Let] your will be done.

or

[It is my hope that] your will be done.

It's an oldish feeling expression (archaism) but, when it shows up (except in the Lord's Prayer), it's usually in response to a superior's command. It's not telling the superior or underlings to do anything, but acknowledging that the speaker assents to the order and will do his or her utmost to carry it out.

See also:

lly
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    Yes, there is a difference in meaning between the two. "Your will be done" is a wish - "I want your will to be done". "Your will will be done" is a prediction - "I expect your wishes will be done" or "I am certain your wishes will be done" . In the second case, the speaker might prefer if the other's will was not done. – Concrete Gannet Jun 18 '18 at 04:31
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    "Your will will be done" is clumsy and I think I have never seen anyone use that phraseology. – Concrete Gannet Jun 18 '18 at 04:33
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    "Your will will be done" could even be a subtle putdown - "all your other flunkies will do this stupid thing no matter how dumb I think it is" or "don't blame me when your flunkies implement this stupid thing". – Concrete Gannet Jun 18 '18 at 04:34
  • Fwiw, @ConcreteGannet is completely right about what 'yer will'll be done' would mean if anyone said that. Since they don't, I left off that part. – lly Jun 18 '18 at 08:11
0

Will and will are two different, unrelated words. The fact the spelling is the same has no relevance to grammar or semantics.

aaa90210
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  • Aside from those being the same words, their different senses ('desire[s]' &c., 'to desire to come to pass' &c.) likely come from the same place, reconstructed as PIE roots regarding choice and choose as umlauts differentiating the noun and verb. – lly Jun 22 '18 at 04:12
  • It will rain tomorrow. Means I desire it to rain tomorrow? No that isn't right at all. – aaa90210 Jun 22 '18 at 11:45
  • Originally? literally? Yes. It's morphed into extended senses including facilitating an impersonal auxiliary of future occurrence. But it's the same word, different senses having come to predominate its use as different parts of speech. – lly Jun 22 '18 at 13:38