Prayer in Qumran texts. A brief introduction

Abstract

Of some three hundred literary texts found in the caves of the Judaean Desert and those close to Khirbet Qumran, 56 are various pieces of poetry and liturgy. Seven specific groups have been distinguished among them: 1. Liturgy on sunshine and sunset and on specific days; 2. Liturgy on specific ceremonies of the community; 3. Eschatological prayers; 4. Magic texts; 5. Collections of psalms (including pseudepigrapha); 6. Thanksgiving hymns; 7. Prose prayers. The issue of how the Qumranians were praying is here briefly touched upon. Then there is a description of morning and evening prayers, Sabbath prayers, specific liturgy of the annual ceremony of entering the New Covenant, the Hodayot (Thanksgiving Hymns), pseudepigraphic Psalms (like Ps 151), and the eschatological prayers. The introduction ends with a summary evaluation of the role of the texts in reconstructing the historical development of the Jewish prayer of the late Second Temple period. The need to study the relationship of the Qumran prayers with the early Christian prayers is also briefly discussed.