The Prayer of Manasseh: The Penitential Psalm of Judah's Most Wicked King in the Septuagint and Odes

The Enigma of King Manasseh: 2 Kings vs. 2 Chronicles

King Manasseh of Judah reigned for 55 turbulent years (c. 687–642 BC) in Jerusalem. In the Book of 2 Kings 21, he is remembered as the most depraved monarch in Davidic history:

• He rebuilt the high places destroyed by his father Hezekiah.
• He erected altars for Baal, made an Asherah pole, and worshipped the host of heaven inside the Temple of Yahweh.
• He sacrificed his own son in the fire in the Valley of Hinnom and practiced sorcery and divination.
• He shed so much innocent blood that it filled Jerusalem from one end to another (2 Kings 21:16).

According to 2 Kings, Manasseh's crimes sealed the doom of Jerusalem and provoked the irreversible Babylonian exile (2 Kings 24:3–4).

However, the post-exilic account in 2 Chronicles 33:10–19 introduces a dramatic historical development absent from Kings:

[THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY AND REPENTANCE (2 CHRONICLES 33:11–13)]
"Therefore the LORD brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria,
 who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with bronze chains and took him to Babylon.
 And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the LORD his God and humbled
 himself greatly before the God of his fathers. When he prayed to Him, He was moved by his entreaty
 and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom.
 Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God."

The Chronicler twice mentions an existing historical record containing Manasseh's actual prayer: "Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God... behold, they are in the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel... and his prayer, and how God was moved by his entreaty... behold, they are written in the Chronicles of the Seers" (2 Chronicles 33:18–19).

The Prayer of Manasseh (Oratio Manassis) is a 15-verse penitential liturgical psalm composed in Hellenistic Jewish antiquity to provide the missing text referenced by the Chronicler.

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Literary Anatomy of the Prayer: The Theology of Repentance

Composed in balanced, rhythmic Greek (likely translated from a lost Hebrew original during the 2nd or 1st century BC), the Prayer of Manasseh represents one of the most eloquent confessions of sin in Second Temple literature.

The prayer is structured into four classical liturgical movements:

1. Doxology of Cosmic Omnipotence (Verses 1–7)

The prayer addresses Yahweh as the God of the righteous patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) who bound the primeval sea by His spoken command: "Who hast made heaven and earth with all their order; who hast bound the sea by the word of Thy commandment; who hast shut up the deep and sealed it by Thy fearful and glorious name."

2. Acknowledgment of Guilt Surpassing the Sands of the Sea (Verses 8–10)

Manasseh confesses that God did not appoint repentance for righteous men like Abraham who did not sin, but for a transgressor like himself: "For 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 have set up abominations and have multiplied offenses."

3. The Bowing of the Knee of the Heart (Verses 11–13)

The peak of biblical Hebrew interiority expressed in Greek idiom: "And now I bend the knee of my heart, beseeching Thy graciousness. I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned, and I acknowledge my transgressions."

4. Plea for Pardon and Eternal Praise (Verses 14–15)

The king begs not to be condemned to the subterranean abyss, concluding with a vow of lifelong praise before the angelic hosts of heaven.

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Manuscript Traditions: Didascalia, Codex Alexandrinus, and Odes

The Prayer of Manasseh has a unique textual transmission history:

1. The Syriac Didascalia Apostolorum (3rd Century AD): The earliest surviving complete text of the Prayer appears embedded in chapter 7 of the Didascalia, an early Christian pastoral manual. The author cites Manasseh's prayer as the supreme historical proof that even the most heinous sinner can receive forgiveness through sincere penance.
2. The Apostolic Constitutions (Book II.22, c. 380 AD): The Greek expansion of the Didascalia includes the full Greek text of the prayer.
3. Codex Alexandrinus (5th Century AD, British Library): The prayer was included in canonical Greek Septuagint codices not as an addendum to 2 Chronicles, but as the 12th Ode in the collection of liturgical canticles (Odes / Oidai) appended after the Book of Psalms.
4. The Latin Vulgate (Post-Tridentine Appendix): Jerome did not translate the Prayer of Manasseh for his canonical Old Testament. However, after the Council of Trent (1546), the Catholic Church placed it alongside 3 Esdras and 4 Esdras in an Appendix to the Clementine Vulgate (1592) "lest they should perish entirely, though outside the canonical books."

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Why Was the Prayer Not Included in the Hebrew Canon?

Despite its spiritual beauty and biblical orthodoxy, the Prayer of Manasseh was excluded from canonical Scripture across several traditions:

• Absence from the Masoretic Text: No Hebrew or Aramaic manuscript of the Prayer of Manasseh has ever been found in the Masoretic textual line or among the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran.
• Late Hellenistic Composition: Internal linguistic analysis indicates that the poetic Greek reflects Second Temple Hellenistic phrasing rather than 7th-century BC pre-exilic Monarchic Hebrew.
• Theological Problem of Unconditional Merit: In verse 8, the prayer states: "Thou, O Lord, hast not appointed repentance unto the just, unto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which have not sinned against Thee." Canonical biblical theology (Romans 3:23; 1 Kings 8:46) uniformly teaches that no human being except the Messiah is without sin.
• Protestant Reformation Consensus: Martin Luther translated the prayer and included it in the Apocrypha of his 1534 German Bible, declaring it "a fine and devout prayer," but clarifying that it lacked canonical authority for establishing church doctrine.

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Comparison: 2 Kings 21, 2 Chronicles 33, and Prayer of Manasseh

Textual Witness	Historical Era	Portrayal of Manasseh	Theology of Repentance
2 Kings 21	Pre-exilic / Exilic (c. 560 BC)	Unmitigated apostate; root cause of the Babylonian destruction	No repentance mentioned; judgment is absolute
2 Chronicles 33	Post-exilic (c. 400–350 BC)	Captured by Assyria, imprisoned in Babylon, repents and is restored	Repentance delivers from exile; temple restored
Prayer of Manasseh	Hellenistic Era (c. 150–50 BC)	Suppliant penitent bound in iron chains; liturgical model	Radical grace; God's mercy exceeds human transgression

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Three-Tier Evidentiary Evaluation: The Prayer of Manasseh

Tier 1: Material and Physical Archaeology

• Assyrian Royal Inscriptions: The annals of Assyrian kings Esarhaddon (Prism B) and Ashurbanipal (Rassam Cylinder) list "Manasseh, king of Judah" (Menase sar Yaudi) as a vassal paying tribute of timber and stone for Nineveh, confirming his historical subjection to Mesopotamia.
• Codex Alexandrinus (MS A / 02): Earliest complete Greek manuscript witness preserving the text within the liturgical Odes appended to the Psalter.

Tier 2: Textual and Internal Epigraphy

• Linguistic Register: Greek syntax displaying Semitic idioms (proskynesis, bending the knee of the heart), demonstrating a Jewish Hellenistic or translated Semitic origin.
• Literary Dependence: Directly inspired by the Chronicler's notation that Manasseh prayed while bound with hooks in bronze fetters (2 Chron 33:11).

Tier 3: Theological and Canonical Transmission

• Eastern Orthodox Status: Included in the biblical canon of several Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches (such as the Ethiopian Tewahedo Church) as an integral part of 2 Chronicles or the Odes.
• Protestant and Jewish Status: Considered an apocryphal / pseudepigraphal expansion; edifying for devotional meditation but lacking canonical status.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Did King Manasseh write this prayer while imprisoned in Babylon?

Historical-critical consensus concludes that while King Manasseh did repent in Babylon as recorded in 2 Chronicles 33, this specific 15-verse Greek prayer was composed centuries later by a Second Temple Jewish scribe to provide a liturgical voice to that historic event.

Where can I find the Prayer of Manasseh today?

It is found in the Apocrypha section of the original 1611 King James Version, modern editions of the Septuagint, the Appendix of the Clementine Vulgate, and the Eastern Orthodox biblical canon.

How did the Assyrians capture Manasseh "with hooks"?

Assyrian palace reliefs from Khorsabad and Nineveh depict captives being led before the Assyrian monarch with fishhooks driven through their lips or noses, attached to ropes. This brutal historical practice perfectly matches the description in 2 Chronicles 33:11.