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The Shemoneh Esrei, the Jewish prayer of eighteen blessings, was prayed daily in the synagogue. In the Didache, an early church manual, readers are similarly taught to pray the prayer Jesus taught three times a day.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Shemoneh Esrei
Liturgy
Rabbinic
You, O Lord, are mighty forever, you revive the dead, you have the power to save. You cause the wind to blow and the rain to fall. You sustain the living with lovingkindness, you revive the dead with great mercy, you support the falling, heal the sick, set free the bound and keep faith with those who sleep in the dust. Who is like you, O doer of mighty acts? Who resembles you, a king who puts to death and restores to life, and causes salvation to flourish? And you are certain to revive the dead. Blessed are you, O Lord, who revives the dead. We will sanctify your name in this world just as it is sanctified in the highest heavens, as it is written by your prophet... Forgive us, O our Father, for we have sinned; pardon us, O our King, for we have transgressed; for you pardon and forgive. Blessed are you, O Lord, who is merciful and always ready to forgive. Look upon our affliction and plead our cause, and deliver us speedily for your name’s sake; for you are a mighty redeemer. Blessed are you, O Lord, the redeemer of Israel. Bless this year for us, O Lord our God, together with all the varieties of its produce, for our welfare. Bestow dew and rain for a blessing upon the face of the earth. O satisfy us with your goodness, and bless our year like the best of years. Blessed are you, O Lord, who blesses the years. May it be Your will, HaShem, my God and the God of my forefathers, that you rescue me today and every day from brazen men and brazenness, from an evil man, an evil companion, an evil neighbor, an evil mishap, the destructive spiritual impediment, a harsh trial and a harsh opponent, whether he is a member of the covenant or whether he is not a member of the covenant.
Date: 100 B.C.E. - 100 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Didache 8:3
Early Christian
1 Don't fast like the hypocrites, who fast on Mondays and Thursdays. Instead, you should fast on Wednesdays and Fridays. 2 Also, don't pray like the hypocrites. Instead, pray as the Lord commanded in His Gospel, saying: 'Our Father in Heaven, may your name be honored; may your kingdom come; may your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us today our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for yours is the power and the glory forever.' 3 Pray in this way three times a day.
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Notes and References
“... The effect of Did. 8 is, therefore, to create a readily perceptible difference between Christians and Jews. [...] In the same way Christians can be identified as such by their audible and possibly public recitation of the Lord's Prayer three times a day, instead of praying the traditional Shema or Shemoneh Esreh of Judaism (1996c: 235-36). [...] This means that in place of the thrice-daily recitation of a distinctively Jewish prayer a distinctively Christian prayer is required ...”
Garrow, Alan J. P.
The Gospel of Matthew's Dependence on the Didache
(pp. 124-125) T&T Clark International, 2004
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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