Pre-print version of ‘The Prayer of Manasseh’, in: The Oxford Handbook of Apocrypha, ed. by Gerbern S. Oegema, Oxford University Press, pp. 410–421. “And when they said ‘repent, repent!’ I wonder what they meant” (Leonard Cohen) The Prayer of Manasseh Ariel Gutman Abstract The Prayer of Manasseh is a short penitential prayer considered apocryphal in most Christian and all Jewish traditions. It is attributed to the Judean king Manasseh in an attempt to fill the gap of a missing prayer reported in 2 Chronicles. The paper surveys the Biblical background of the text, its text-historical origin stemming in the Didascalia, its special circular literary structure, its textual attestations in manuscripts and epigraphic witnesses as well as the contexts in which it appears. The paper concludes with the examination of the question of authorship of the Prayer, showing that it is impossible to ascertain whether the author was Jewish or Christian, as well as the time and milieu in which the Prayer was composed. Keywords: King Manasseh, Syriac, Peshitta, Eastern Christianity, Jewish-Christian polemics Sin and repentance have always been central ideas of monotheistic religions, and these are also the main themes of the short text (only 15 verses long, reproduced at the end of this chapter for the convenience of the reader) known as the “Prayer of Manasseh” (henceforth PrMan). In a previous recension of the Apocrypha published by Oxford University Press, Metzger (1977: 219) has described it as a “little classic of penitential devotion […] Constructed in accord with the best liturgical forms and full without being protracted, this beautiful prayer breathes throughout a spirit of deep and genuine religious feeling.” While beauty is in the eye of the beholder, this text is certainly a condensed, almost prototypical, text of repentance. It may be for this reason that the prayer has been included in a number of manuscripts of the Eastern Christian Bible written in Syriac, known as the Peshiṭta. Yet in other Christian denominations, as well as in Judaism, it has remained outside the canon, earning therefore the designation of Apocrypha. In this chapter we shall explore the background of the prayer, its various textual attestations and versions, the identity of its writer, its content and the theology behind it. Since the author of this chapter has studied especially the Syriac attestations of the prayer, much of the current chapter will be based upon these. For a fuller account, the reader is advised to consult Gutman & van Peursen (2011). Biblical background The name of the text attributes it to the Biblical king Manasseh, son of Hezekiah, who reigned, according to the Biblical source, over Judea in the seventh century BCE. The book of 2 Kings describes king Manasseh as a wicked king, who promoted idolatry and was therefore