Prayer Of Manasseh Poem by Michael Walkerjohn

Because of its brevity, the Prayer of Manasseh cannot be dated with any certainty, nor can its place of composition or original language be easily fixed. It is not found in the Hebrew Bible and is attested only in the third century a.d. in Christian sources. Appearing in only a few Septuagint (lxx)manuscripts, generally appended to the Psalms, the Prayer of Manasseh was apparently unknown to the Bible scholar Jerome in the fourth century b.c. Protestants include it among the Apocrypha. It was not present in the edition of the Vulgate declared canonical by the Council of Trent and, when printed in Catholic Bibles, it is placed with 1 and 2 Esdras in an appendix to the nt. It is considered canonical in Eastern Orthodoxy.

O Lord
Almighty
God of our fathers
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
and of their righteous seed; who
hast made heaven and earth, with all
the ornament thereof; who hast bound
the sea by the word of thy commandment
who hast shut up the deep, and sealed it by
thy terrible and glorious name; whom all
men fear and tremble before thy power
for the majesty of thy glory cannot be
borne, and thine angry threatening
toward sinners is importable: but
thy merciful promise is unmeasurable
and unsearchable; for thou art the most
high Lord, of great compassion, long suffering
very merciful, and repentest of the evils of men.
Thou, O Lord, according to thy great goodness
hast promised repentance and forgiveness to
them that have sinned against thee: and of
thine infinite mercies hast appointed
repentance unto sinners, that they
may be saved. Thou, therefore, O Lord
that art the God of the just, hast not
appointed repentance to the just
as to Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob
which have not sinned against thee; but
thou hast appointed repentance unto me
that am a sinner: for I have sinned above the
number of the sands of the sea. My transgressions
O Lord, are multiplied: my transgressions are multiplied
and I am not worthy to behold and see the height of
heaven for the multitude of mine iniquities. I am
bowed down with many iron bands, that I
cannot life up mine head, neither have any
release: for I have provoked thy wrath, and
done evil before thee: I did not thy will
neither kept I thy commandments:
I have set up abominations, and
have multiplied offences. Now
therefore, I bow the knee of
mine heart, beseeching thee
of grace. I have sinned, O Lord, I
have sinned, and I acknowledge mine
iniquities: wherefore, I humbly beseech
thee, forgive me, O Lord, forgive me, and destroy
me not with mine iniquities. Be not angry with me forever,
by reserving evil for me; neither condemn me to the lower
parts of the earth. For thou art the God, even the God of
them that repent; and in me thou wilt shew all thy
goodness: for thou wilt save me, that am unworthy
according to thy great mercy. Therefore, I will praise
thee forever all the days of my life: for all the powers
of the heavens do praise thee, and thine is the glory
for ever and ever. Amen


The Story.
In the "Apostolic Constitutions" (ii.22)the whole story of Manasseh
is given as an instructive lesson to bishops in their dealings with
the erring and in the administration of justice. The story is based
upon II Kings xxi. and II Chron. xxxiii. After recounting the sins
of Manasseh, it relates that he was taken captive to Babylon, bound
in shackles of iron, and cast into prison. Bread made of bran and
water mixed with vinegar was given him in small quantities, only so
much as would keep him alive. In his great affliction he repented of
his sins, humbled himself, and sought Yhwh's forgiveness. Then
follows the prayer, after which Yhwh had compassion upon him. A
flame of fire appeared about him, his chains and shackles melted
and he was restored to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Thereafter he
worshiped Yhwh only and sought to undo the evil he had done in the
earlier part of his reign. Julius Africanus (c.221 C.E.)
apparently, had read the story in this form, for he says
that "while Manasseh was reciting a hymn his bonds burst
asunder, iron though they were, and he escaped"
(see Hastings, "Dict. Bible") .

Authorship.
Ewald and, more recently, Budde (Stade's "Zeitschrift, " 1892, pp.39
et seq.)have maintained the view that the Greek version of the
prayer is a translation from a Hebrew original. This is not
impossible, but it is not supported by sufficient evidence. The
author was evidently a Jew, but the place and date of composition
cannot be definitely ascertained. The story in II Chronicles assumes
the existence of a Prayer of Manasseh and of various details of his
life in the "history of Hozai" (R. V.)or "of the seers" (LXX., ἐπί
τῶν λόγων τῶν ὁρώντων) . This history must have been lost, and the
Greek prayer is, most probably, the attempt of some pious Jew of
later times to reproduce it. Schürer ("Hist. of the Jewish People, "
division ii., vol. iii., p.188)compares the interpolation of the
prayers of Mordecai and Esther as supplements to the Book of Esther
and the Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Holy Children as
supplements to the Book of Daniel. There is, indeed, nothing in the
conception of God's forgiving grace to the repentant sinner which is
not implied in the story in Chronicles as well as in other still
earlier Old Testament passages, as Ex. xxxiv.6-7, and Ps. xxxiv.
18, li.17. The emphasis, however, upon the fact that God is God of
the penitent as well as of the righteous, and the conception of the
Patriarchs as conspicuous examples of the latter, point to the later
Judaism. F. C. Porter (Hastings, "Dict. Bible")thinks it is a Hellenistic composition. So does Swete ("Introduction to the O. T.
in Greek, " p.253) . Nestle ("Septuagintastudien, " 1899, iii.)
maintains that the text of the prayer in the Greek manuscripts of
the Septuagint comes from the "Apostolic Constitutions, " or from
the "Didascalia, " and that it is not, as has been commonly supposed
drawn by the latter from the Septuagint.

There appears to be no trace of the Prayer of Manasseh in Jewish
tradition. The Jerusalem Talmud (Sanh. x.2)relates that Manasseh
was put into an iron mule, beneath which a fire was kindled. In his
torture he prayed in vain to the idols he had formerly worshiped. At
last he besought the God of his fathers, and was delivered (comp.
Apoc. Baruch, vi.4) .

Bibliography:
Text: Fritzsche, Vet. Test. Grœc. Libri Apocryphi, pp. xiv.,92;
Swete, Old Testament in Greek, iii.802-804;
Nestle, Septuagintastudien,1899, iii.
Commentaries: Fritzsche, Exegetisches Handbuch,1851;
Ball, in Speaker's Commentary (Apocrypha, ii.362 et seq.):
Ryssel, in Kautzsch, Apokryphen und Pseudepigraphen,1899
(transl. and notes) .