Commentary on The Prayer of Manasseh

1–15 : Invocation and praise of the creator;

cf. Neh 9.6–8 .

1 :

God of our ancestors, Ex 3.15–16; Dan 2.23; cf. Acts 3.13 .

3 :

The restraining of the sea by the creator is a common poetic theme of the Hebrew Bible (Ps 29.10; 104.7–9; 148.5–6; Job 38.8–11 ). Your terrible and glorious name, a hypostasis of the deity (Jer 10.6; 23.27; Ezek 20.39; 39.7; Zech 14.9 ).

7 :

Cf. Ex 34.6–7 ; the Greek is very close to the LXX translation of Joel 2.13 and Jon 4.21 . The second part of this verse (O Lord … may be saved), preserved in the later Greek manuscripts and in the Latin and Syriac versions, is probably part of the original poem. It picks up on a major theme of Deuteronomy and related literature, the efficacy of repentance.

8 :

Not & for the righteous, cf. Mk 2.17; Lk 5.32; 1 Tim 1.15 . For me … a sinner, cf. Lk 15.7; 18.13 .

10 :

I have done … in your sight, Ps 51.4 (LXX 50.6).

13 :

The depths of the earth, Sheol, the world of the dead (Ezek 26.20; 31.14,16,18; Ps 63.7 ).

15 :

Host of heaven, the multitude of angelic beings (Job 38.7; Neh 9.6; cf. Lk 2.13 ).