Conference yukon::christian_v7

535.0. "The Prayer of Manasses (KJV)" by COVERT::COVERT (John R. Covert) Sat Jul 30 1994 17:37

                                   The
                            PRAYER OF MANASSES
                              King of Judah
                  When he was holden captive in Babylon

	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,
	   longsuffering, 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 iniquites.

	Be not angry with me for ever,
	   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 for ever
	   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.

Hi John, 

Interesting attribution, from the events of 2 Chronicles 33:12-13.  In spite
of Manasseh's repentance (which I find rarely mentioned), the evil with which
he filled Jerusalem (2 Kings 23:26, 24:3-4) brought down judgement.  His son
Amon built on the evil, while next-in-line Josiah's reforms served only to
remove him from judgement, rather than judgement from the nation (cf 2 Kings
23:29 with Isaiah 57:1)... 

I presume from your reference that .0 is included in the apocrypha?

								Andrew

Whether the Prayer of Manasseh which we have today is the same text or a
later editing of the text that is recorded "among the Chronicles of the
Seers" (2 Chr 33:19), or whether Manasseh's original text was completely
lost and the text we have was composed later by a devout Jew is not known.
It follows a common Jewish liturgical style popular during the last three
or four centuries before Christ.

The Prayer was part of the Septuagint, and ancient versions of it are
available in Greek, Armenian, Syriac, Latin, and Ethiopic.

It is used as a penitential canticle, primarily during Lent, in the daily
prayer offices of the Episcopal Church and of some Eastern Churches.  Martin
Luther translated it into German in his bible, and the King James translators
translated it into English, since it had been part of all previous English
bibles and the Latin bible in use in the Church in England.  At the Council
of Trent, the Roman Catholics did not include it in the Old Testament canon,
relegating it to an appendix of the Latin edition which is seldom included
in most modern English-language Roman Catholic bibles, except for ecumenical
editions prepared together with Anglicans.

/john

Thanks John.  Appreciated.

							Andrew