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) An anonymous Jew

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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