The Terminology for Prayer in the Bible and DSS

E. Schuller

In studying the many new prayer, hymn and psalm texts that have become known to us in the Dead Sea Scrolls it is frequently observed that they are dependent upon and closely related to the prayer texts of the Hebrew bible. But the exact nature of that re lationship can be described in various ways. This paper attempts to examine a specific aspect, the terms by which prayers are called in the Scrolls. We will examine the occurrence of terms such as shir/shira, tehilla, tephilla, and hodot in the Dead Sea Scrolls, particularly in the headings of various collections, and explore the extent to which biblical usage continues to provide a model and pattern for new compositions.