προσευχή

προσευχή — proseuchḗ

προσευχή, προσευχῆς, ἡ (προσεύχομαι), the Sept. for תְּפִלָּה, equivalent to εὐχή πρός τόν Θεόν (cf. πρός, IV.

1. prayer addressed to God: Mat 17:21 (T WH omit; Tr brackets the verse); Mat 21:22; Mar 9:29; Luk 22:45; Act 3:1; Act 6:4; Act 10:31; Rom 12:12; 1Co 7:5; Col 4:2; plural, Act 2:42; Act 10:4; Rom 1:10 (9); Eph 1:16; Col 4:12; 1Th 1:2; Phm 1:4; Phm 1:22; 1Pe 3:7; 1Pe 4:7; Rev 5:8; Rev 8:3-4 (where ταῖς προσευχαῖς is a dative commodi, for, in aid of, the prayers (Winers Grammar, § 31, 6 c.; cf. Green, p. 101f)); οἶκος προσευχῆς, a house devoted to the offering of prayer to God, Mat 21:13; Mar 11:17; Luk 19:46 (Isa 56:7; 1Ma 7:37); προσευχή καί δέησις, Act 1:14 Rec.; Eph 6:18; Php 4:6 (1Ki 8:38; 2Ch 6:29; 1Ma 7:37; on the distinction between the two words see δέησις); plural, 1Ti 2:1; 1Ti 5:5; ἡ προσευχή τοῦ Θεοῦ, prayer to God, Luk 6:12 (εὐχαριστία Θεοῦ, Wis 16:28; cf. references in πίστις, 1 a.); πρός τόν Θεόν ὑπέρ (L T Tr WH περί) τίνος, Act 12:5; plural Rom 15:30; προσευχή προσεύχεσθαι, a Hebraistic expression (cf. Winers Grammar, § 54, 3; (Buttmann, § 133, 22 a.)), to pray fervently, Jas 5:17.

2. a place set apart or suited for the offering of prayer; i. e.

a. a synagogue (see συναγωγή, 2 b.): 3Ma 7:20 (according to the reading προσευχήν; see Grimm's Commentary at the passage); Philo in Flaccum § 6 (also § 14); leg. ad Gaium §§ 20, 43, 46; Juvenal, sat. 1, 3, 296; συνάγονται πάντες εἰς τήν προσευχήν, μέγιστον οἴκημα πολύν ὄχλον ἐπιδέξασθαι δυνάμενον, Josephus, Vita §54.

b. a place in the open air where the Jews were accustomed to pray, outside of those cities where they had no synagogue; such places were situated upon the bank of a stream or the shore of the sea, where there was a supply of water for washing the hands before prayer: Act 16:13; Act 16:16; Josephus, Antiquities 14, 10, 23, cf. Epiphanius haer. 80, 1. Tertullian in his ad nationes 1, 13: makes mention of the orationes litorales of the Jews, and in his de jejuniis c. 16 says "Judaicum certe jejunium ubique celebratur, cure omissis templis per omne litus quocunque in aperto aliquando jam preces ad carlurn mittunt." (Josephus (c. Apion. 2, 2, 2) quotes Apion as representing Moses as offering αἴθριοι προσευχαί.) Cf. DeWette, Archäologie, § 242; (Schürer, Zeitgesch. § 27 vol. ii., p. 369ff). Not used by secular authors except in the passages cited above from Philo, Josephus, and Juvenal (to which add Cleomedes 71, 16; cf. Boeckh, Corpus inscriptions 2:1004 no. 2114 b. and 1005 no. 2114 bb. (A.D. 81), see Index under the word).