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Prayer of Manasseh
Also called Prayer of Manasses
A fifteen-verse plea for forgiveness, voiced as the prayer of the repentant king whose prayer Chronicles mentions but does not reproduce.6 sources6 sources1. Ryle2. this site's data3. 2 Chronicles 33:11–134. 2 Chronicles 33:18–195. Ryle6. Toy
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At a glance
- Language
- Preserved in Greek; Ryle (1913) favours Greek composition, but a Hebrew original has been proposed.5 6
- Speaker
- Manasseh, the king whose repentance is told in 2 Chronicles 33.4 sources4 sources3. 2 Chronicles 33:11–134. 2 Chronicles 33:18–195. Ryle6. Toy
Summary
Chronicles tells of Manasseh's repentance in captivity and his return to Jerusalem, but leaves his prayer's words unstated. This short work supplies a plea in the king's voice: he confesses his sins and asks for forgiveness. H. E. Ryle (1913) thought a Jewish author probably wrote it in Greek to fit that account. The prayer also has a lasting place in worship, among Greek biblical canticles and in Orthodox Great Compline.10 sources10 sources3. 2 Chronicles 33:11–134. 2 Chronicles 33:18–197. Prayer of Manasseh 1:8–98. Prayer of Manasseh 1:135. Ryle6. Toy9. Ryle10. Great Compline (English text), St. Jonah Orthodox Church11. Martini12. The Orthodox Study Bible (2008), canon table
Contents
Addressing God
Prayer of Manasseh 1:1–7The speaker begins by addressing God. Ryle divides the opening seven verses as the invocation, before the confession and request for pardon.1 2
Naming the need for repentance
Prayer of Manasseh 1:8–10The speaker places himself among sinners who need repentance. He contrasts himself with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, whom the prayer portrays as having remained faithful to God.7 8
Asking for pardon
Prayer of Manasseh 1:11–15The final movement asks God to forgive. Ryle identifies divine compassion and the effectiveness of true repentance as the prayer’s central ideas.4 sources4 sources1. Ryle2. this site's data7. Prayer of Manasseh 1:8–98. Prayer of Manasseh 1:13
Stories
The captive king who prays
Background: 2 Chronicles 33:12–19The setting comes from 2 Chronicles: Manasseh humbles himself in captivity, prays, and is restored to Jerusalem. Ryle reads the surviving prayer as a later composition fitted to that story.4 sources4 sources3. 2 Chronicles 33:11–134. 2 Chronicles 33:18–195. Ryle6. Toy
The chains fall away
Reception: Apostolic Constitutions 2.22The Apostolic Constitutions tells bishops to learn from Manasseh’s repentance and quotes his prayer in full. It also tells of fire appearing around him and his iron chains falling off.13
Connections to the Bible
Expansions
- 2 Chronicles 33:12–13 · Prayer of Manassehmedium confidence
Chronicles describes the king’s repentance and return; 2 Chronicles 33:18–19 also names records of his prayer. Ryle sees this later prayer as an attempt to supply the words.4 sources4 sources3. 2 Chronicles 33:11–134. 2 Chronicles 33:18–195. Ryle6. Toy
Where each church stands
Prayer of Manasseh Full table →
- Greek Orthodox
- Varies
NRSV says the Greek Church recognises it and the OSB prints it after 2 Chronicles, but the Church of Greece's online 2 Chronicles omits it; it is read at Great Compline.
Confidence: medium4 sources4 sources17. NRSV with Apocrypha, 'The Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books of the Old Testament' (To the Reader)18. The Orthodox Study Bible (Thomas Nelson, 2008), front matter (contents, introduction, canon table)19. Apostoliki Diakonia of the Church of Greece, online Old Testament (Septuagint text)20. Great Compline (English text), St. Jonah Orthodox Church, Fr. John Whiteford - Russian (Slavonic) Orthodox
- Varies (2 Chronicles 36:23a ff.)
Printed at the end of 2 Chronicles with a note that it is translated from the Greek and absent from the Hebrew.
Confidence: medium21 17 20 - Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo
- Scripture (13 verses after 2 Chronicles 33:12)22
Why some kept it, why others left it out
Ryle locates the prayer among the canticles following Psalms in the fifth-century Codex Alexandrinus, showing Eastern liturgical use. Its later Western placement varied: medieval Vulgate copies put it after Chronicles, while the Clementine edition moved it to an appendix. Trent’s canonical list omitted it. Article VI, invoking Jerome’s reading distinction, nevertheless names it among books for instruction.6 sources6 sources9. Ryle23. Ryle24. Reid25. Ryle26. Waterworth 184827. England 1919
Kept
Orthodox
Great Compline includes the prayer in full. Its language of repentance has an ongoing home in Orthodox worship.5 sources5 sources10. Great Compline (English text), St. Jonah Orthodox Church11. Martini12. The Orthodox Study Bible (2008), canon table7. Prayer of Manasseh 1:8–98. Prayer of Manasseh 1:13
Misconceptions
Sources
31 sources from 27 works
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H. E. Ryle, The Prayer of Manasses, Introduction, APOT vol. 1 (1913)
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- 9
- 23§9, p. 616↩
- 25
Crawford Howell Toy, J. F. McLaughlin, “Manasseh, Prayer of”
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H. E. Ryle, The Prayer of Manasses, Introduction, in R. H. Charles (ed.), APOT vol. 1 (Oxford, 1913), §1, p. 612
2 Chronicles 33:11–13
33:11So the LORD brought against them the military commanders of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon. 12And in his distress, Manasseh sought the favor of the LORD his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his fathers. 13And when he prayed to Him, the LORD received his plea and heard his petition; so He brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God.
2 Chronicles 33:18–19
33:18As for the rest of the acts of Manasseh, along with his prayer to his God and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, they are indeed written in the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. 19His prayer and how God received his plea, as well as all his sin and unfaithfulness, and the sites where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and idols before he humbled himself, they are indeed written in the Records of the Seers.
H. E. Ryle, The Prayer of Manasses, Introduction, APOT vol. 1 (1913), §2, p. 612
Crawford Howell Toy, J. F. McLaughlin, “Manasseh, Prayer of”, Jewish Encyclopedia vol. 8 (1904), Authorship
H. E. Ryle, The Prayer of Manasses, Introduction, APOT vol. 1 (1913), §4, p. 614
Gabe Martini, “A Christian Hymnal in the Middle of the Old Testament”, Pravoslavie.ru, 8 August 2013
Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion (1571), Article VI, as printed in E. J. Bicknell, A Theological Introduction to the Thirty-Nine Articles (1919)
Sixto-Clementine Vulgate (1592), preface to the Appendix (Prayer of Manasseh, 3–4 Esdras)
NRSV with Apocrypha, 'The Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books of the Old Testament' (To the Reader)
The Orthodox Study Bible (Thomas Nelson, 2008), front matter (contents, introduction, canon table)
Apostoliki Diakonia of the Church of Greece, online Old Testament (Septuagint text)
Great Compline (English text), St. Jonah Orthodox Church, Fr. John Whiteford
Russian Synodal Bible, as published by Azbuka Very (azbyka.ru): contents and chapter notes
R. W. Cowley, 'The Biblical Canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church Today', Ostkirchliche Studien 23 (1974) 318–323
H. E. Ryle, The Prayer of Manasses, Introduction, APOT vol. 1 (1913), §9, p. 616
George J. Reid, “Apocrypha”, Catholic Encyclopedia (1907), Prayer of Manasses
H. E. Ryle, The Prayer of Manasses, Introduction, APOT vol. 1 (1913), §13, p. 617
Council of Trent (tr. J. Waterworth, 1848), Session IV, Decree concerning the canonical Scriptures, Hanover Historical Texts Project (1848)
Church of England, Articles of Religion (1571), as printed in E. J. Bicknell, A Theological Introduction to the Thirty-Nine Articles (1919), newscriptorium.com (1919), Article VI
Crawford Howell Toy, J. F. McLaughlin, “Manasseh, Prayer of”, Jewish Encyclopedia (1904)
Mika S. Pajunen, The Use of Different Aspects of the Deuteronomistic Ideology in Apocryphal Psalms, in Changes in Scripture (BZAW 419, 2011), p. 349 (repository reprint p. 3)
Mika S. Pajunen, “Differentiation of Form, Theme, and Changing Functions in Psalms and Prayers”, SJOT 2019, preprint