📖 Biblical Definition
Hebrew tefillah, prayer, the principal OT term for the practice of addressing the LORD in worship, petition, intercession, lament, and thanksgiving. From the root palal, which carries the underlying sense of judging, pleading a case, interceding — the prayer-as-pleading-before-the-divine-judge motif. The Psalter is the canonical prayer-book of OT Israel and is itself called tefillot (prayers) in Psalm 72:20. The great OT prayers include Hannah's prayer at Shiloh (1 Samuel 2:1-10); Solomon's prayer at the temple dedication (1 Kings 8:22-53); Daniel's prayer of confession (Daniel 9:3-19); Ezra's prayer (Ezra 9); Nehemiah's prayers (Nehemiah 1; 9). The OT institutions of prayer include the hours of prayer (the Shema recited twice daily, morning and evening; later the three prayer times of Daniel 6:10 and Psalm 55:17, evening, morning, and noon), the corporate prayer of the assembly, and the priestly intercession before the LORD. The NT continues and intensifies the theology: the Lord Jesus is Himself the great Intercessor (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25); the Spirit prays in the saints (Romans 8:26); the church is called to prayer without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). The patriarchal-Reformed reader recovers tefillah as the substantive covenantal address to the LORD — reverent, doctrinal, Scripture-saturated, communal, persistent — the opposite of both vague spiritual sentiment and prayerless practical materialism.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Hebrew tefillah (H8605), prayer / intercession / supplication; covenantal address to the LORD; great OT prayers (Hannah, Solomon, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah); the Psalter as tefillot.
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TEFILLAH, Hebrew noun (H8605; prayer, intercession, supplication) From palal (H6419, to pray, intercede, judge, plead). The principal OT term for prayer. The Psalter is itself called tefillot (Psalm 72:20). Great OT prayers: Hannah at Shiloh (1 Samuel 2:1-10); Solomon at temple dedication (1 Kings 8:22-53); Daniel's confession (Daniel 9:3-19); Ezra (Ezra 9); Nehemiah (Nehemiah 1; 9). OT institutions: Shema recited twice daily; three prayer times (evening, morning, noon; Daniel 6:10; Psalm 55:17); corporate assembly prayer; priestly intercession. NT intensification: Christ the great Intercessor (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25); Spirit-prayer (Romans 8:26); prayer without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
📖 Key Scripture
Psalm 55:17 — "Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice."
Daniel 6:10 — "Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime."
1 Thessalonians 5:17 — "Pray without ceasing."
Romans 8:26 — "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
No major postmodern redefinition. The principal contemporary mishandling is the soft-evangelical reduction of prayer to vague spiritual sentiment, losing the substantive doctrinal-covenantal address to the LORD characteristic of biblical tefillah.
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Tefillah as a Hebrew term does not undergo lexical corruption. The principal contemporary mishandling is the soft-evangelical reduction of prayer to vague spiritual sentiment, severable from the substantive doctrinal-covenantal address to the LORD characteristic of biblical tefillah. Biblical prayer is reverent (Solomon's posture in 1 Kings 8), doctrinal (Daniel's prayer of confession appeals to specific covenant terms), Scripture-saturated (the Psalter is the prayer-book and is itself Scripture), communal (the priestly and corporate institutions of OT prayer), and persistent (three times a day in Daniel and the Psalms; without ceasing in 1 Thessalonians 5:17). The patriarchal-Reformed recovery is integrated biblical prayer: doctrinal and warm; ordered and Spirit-quickened; private and corporate; persistent and seasoned with biblical content.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
H8605; from palal (H6419); OT principal term for prayer; Psalter as tefillot; great OT prayer narratives.
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['Hebrew', 'H8605', 'tefillah', 'prayer, intercession, supplication']
['Hebrew', 'H6419', 'palal', 'to pray, intercede, judge, plead (verbal root)']
['Greek', 'G4335', 'proseuche', 'prayer (NT equivalent)']
Usage
"Tefillah: prayer; covenantal address to the LORD."
"Three times a day (Daniel 6:10; Psalm 55:17)."
"The Psalter is the canonical prayer-book of Israel and the church."