Pre-publication Version To appear in: ZAW 125 (2013), pp. 650–53 1 Pleading One’s Case Before God: A Hittite Analogy for תפלה Yitzhaq Feder University of Haifa Abstract This note examines the semantic relationship between derivatives of ʬ"ʬ פpertaining to prayer and those bearing legal connotations. Against scholars who deny an etymological relation between these forms, philological evidence is brought to strengthen the view that prayer is modeled after the notion of legal intercession. This conclusion finds strong support in a semantic parallel from Hittite, where the terminology and content of prayer are modeled after legal intercession. The numerous attempts to understand the etymology of ʺפʤʬ («prayer») and relate it to other ʬ"ʬ פderivatives have been inconclusive. Gerstenberger’s treatment in TDOT begins despairingly: «Homonymous roots meaning ‘pray’ are not found in the Semitic languages; it is therefore virtually impossible to trace the etymology of pll». 1 Furthermore, attempts to relate the various forms of this root to a basic sense, such as Speiser’s postulated «appraise, evaluate» have convinced few scholars. 2 A fundamental problem is that several of these forms appear in obscure contexts, allowing these instances to be adapted to various theories. Many of these sources presume a legal context, raising the question how these ʬ"ʬ פ derivatives relate to prayer. Some scholars have suggested that it is the notion of intercession which links the various senses. 3 Yet many lexicons and linguists continue to dispute any relationship, even postulating two distinct homonymous roots. 4 The purpose of this note is to contribute additional philological evidence for the former view, and more importantly, to point 1 E. Gerstenberger, ʬʬ פpll, TDOT 11:568. 2 E. Speiser, The Stem PLL in Hebrew, JBL 82 (1963), 301–306. More recently, A. Berlin, On the Meaning of pll in the Bible, RB 96 (1989), 345–351, relates all of the forms to a meaning «accountable, responsible, liable». 3 N. Johansson, Parakletoi, 1940, 41–48; D.R. App-Thomas, Notes on Some Terms Relating to Prayer, VT 6 (1956), 235–238. Cf. also A.B. Ehrlich, Mikrâ Ki-Pheshutô, Vol. 1, 1969 (1898), 148–149 (Heb.). 4 E.g. KBL 763; C. Cohen, The Ancient Critical Misunderstanding of Exodus 21:22-25, in: N.S. Fox et al. (eds.), Mishneh Todah, 2009, 458.