| Abstract
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The present study examines extended prose prayers in early Jewish literature. Commencing with the investigation of one exilic and four post-exilic prayers in the Hebrew Bible and their translations in the Septuagint, I analyze approximately thirty prayers in the Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Dead Sea Scrolls, Philo, Josephus, and Targum Jonathan looking for rhetorical patterns and innovations that provide a window into the thinking of these Jewish communities and sponsors. Throughout the study, I probe the structure, organization, and content of each prayer and explore the traces of ideology. The primary method of analysis is narratology, rhetorical-criticism, discourse analysis, and a close reading of the literary and historical contexts. After the first chapter of introduction, the second chapter concentrates on the five longest prayers in the MT emerging from the exilic and post-exilic periods: Solomon's prayer (1 Kgs 8:14-61); Ezra's prayer (Ezra 9:5-15); Nehemiah's prayer (Neh 1:4-11); the Levites' prayer (Neh 9:4-37); and Daniel's prayer (Dan 9:13-19). In several elements of language, traditions, themes, Solomon's prayer serves as a model for the other four penitential prayers. Some conclusions serve as a comparative basis for the early Jewish prayers probed in the remaining chapters. The third chapter examines the Greek translations of the five MT prayers and indicates exegetical principles, theological trends, and socio-political concerns of strands of Judaism in the late Hellenistic and early Hasmonean periods exhibited in the translations. The fourth and longest chapter explores twenty-four extended prose prayers in the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha from a variety of literary contexts. The fifth chapter considers three extended prose prayers in the Dead Sea Scrolls--the chief priest's prayer in the War Scroll (1QM X-XII), Joseph's prayer in the Apocryphon of Joseph (4Q372 frag. 1), and Abram's prayer in the Genesis Apocryphon (1Qap Gen ar XXI). The sixth chapter analyzes two Philonic prose prayers and three from Josephus including two rewritten prayers of Solomon's temple prayer speech. The seventh chapter surveys Solomon's temple prayer in Targum Jonathan, and the final eighth chapter provides conclusions regarding innovations and distinctive themes drawn from the entire study.
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