Psalms, Prayers, and Odes

Abstract

Chapter five is concerned with the psalms, prayers, and odes of the Apocrypha. A number of extra psalms were known in the ancient period, some of which found their way into the various versions of the Old Testament. Treated here are Psalms 151–155 and Psalms of Solomon, and also Prayer of Manasseh. Psalm 151 presents the words and thoughts of a young David. Psalms 152–155 include typical forms of the biblical psalms, such as lament and pleas for rescue. Prayer of Manasseh was an addition to 2 Chronicles. King Manasseh, the last king of Judah before the exile, was blamed for its fall, but in 2 Chronicles he was said to have been rehabilitated, and in some Greek Bibles his penitential prayer is included. Psalms of Solomon may never have been present as a text in an Old Testament, but was placed in an appendix to Codex Alexandrinus along with 1 and 2 Clement. As a result, it is included here. It presents the perspective of a smaller, more sectarian group within Judaism, the “congregations of the pious,” perhaps the Pharisees.