Acknowledgements

Table of contents

Introduction

Functions of Psalms and Prayers in the Late Second Temple Period

Part 1: Psalms, Prayers, and Embodied Religion

Towards a Cognitive Theory of Blessing: The Dead Sea Scrolls as a Test Case

The Imprecatory Features of Psalms of Solomon 4 and 12

Toward a Genealogy of the Introspective Self in Second Temple Judaism

The Function of Prayers of Ritual Mourning in the Second Temple Period

Part 2: Psalms, Prayers, and Penitential Themes

“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean”: Psalm 51, Penitential Piety, and Cultic Language in Axial Age Thinking

Prayer and Remembrance in 4QSapiential Work (4Q185)

Lamentations: Time and Setting

Part 3: Material Issues and the Ordering of Psalms and Prayers in Collections

Structure, Stichometry, and Standardization: An Analysis of Scribal Features in a Selection of the Dead Sea Psalms Scrolls

Reading the Songs of the Sage in Sequence: Preliminary Observations and Questions

Did David Lay Down His Crown? Reframing Issues of Deliberate Juxtaposition and Interpretive Contexts in the “Book” of Psalms with Psalm 147 as a Case in Point

Part 4: Psalms, Prayers, and Prophecy

Psalms as Prophecy: Qumran Evidence for the Reading of Psalms as Prophetic Text and the Formation of the Canon

Exodus and Exile as Prototypes of Justice: Prophecies in the Psalms of Solomon and Barkhi Nafshi Hymns

Part 5: Psalms, Prayers, History and Identity

Those Who Pray Together Stay Together: The Role of Late Psalms in Creating Identity

Praying History in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Memory, Identity, Fulfilment

Fathers and Sons: Family Ties in the Historical Psalms

Part 6: The Composition and Use of Psalms and Prayers

Speakers and Scenarios: Imagining the First Temple in Second Temple Psalms (Psalms 122 and 137)

Ben Sira’s Use of Various Psalm Genres

“There is no one righteous”: Paul’s Use of Psalms in Romans 3

Philippians 2:6–11 as a Christological Psalm from the 20^th Century

Bibliography

Index of Ancient Sources

Index of Modern Authors