The Hebrew noun techinnah refers to supplication, an earnest plea for favor, or an entreaty for grace. It derives from chanan (to be gracious) and describes the posture of one who approaches God — or a superior — with humble petition, not as a matter of right but of grace.
Techinnah is prayer in its most vulnerable form — not prayer as recitation but prayer as self-surrender to the mercy of Another. Solomon's great dedicatory prayer in 1 Kings 8 uses techinnah repeatedly: may God hear the supplications of His people when they pray toward this house. This prayer became the paradigm for all Jewish prayer — confident access through the temple, the place where heaven and earth touched. The related word tachanun is the daily supplication in Jewish liturgy. Theologically, techinnah presupposes that the one praying has no claim on the answer — they can only appeal to the character of the God who loves to show favor. This is grace pursued through prayer.