Prayer of Manasseh
Summary:
A poetic prayer of lament for personal sin placed on the lips of Judah's King Manasseh. The book fills the gap created by the reference to his repentance in 2 Chron. 33:12-19. The author presumes that God is infinite in his mercy and grace to the repentant.
Canonical Status:
- Among the deuterocanonical books of Eastern Orthodox Churches
- Among the Old Testament Apocrypha of Roman Catholics and Protestants
- Included in an appendix of the Vulgate (Latin)
- Included in the Septuagint (Greek) and Syriac translations
- Not included in the Hebrew Scriptures - Tanak
Author:
- Written under the pseudonym of Judah's most wicked and long-lived king (see 2 Kings 21; 2 Chronicles 33)
Place: Probably in or near Jerusalem
Date:
- Perhaps as early as the 2nd century BC
- No later than the 1st century AD (before the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70)
Original Language:
- Probably semitizing Greek
- A Semitic original is possible, but no longer survives
Notes prepared by George Lyons
(Professor of Biblical Literature)
for the
Wesley Center for Applied Theology
at Northwest Nazarene University
© Copyright 2000 by the Wesley Center for Applied Theology
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