intercessions to God on behalf of someone

① petition addressed to deity, prayer (polyth. pap BGU 1080, 4 [III A.D.] κατὰ τὰς κοινὰς ἡμῶν εὐχὰς καὶ προσευχάς; LXX; pseudepigr.; Jos., Bell. 5, 388, w. less prob. [s. 2] C. Ap. 2, 10, Ant. 14, 258) IEph 1:2; 5:2; 10:2; 11:2; IMg 14:1; IPhld 5:1; ISm 11:1, 3. αἱ πρ. τῶν ἁγίων Rv 5:8; 8:3f.—1 Pt 3:7. W. δέησις Ac 1:14 v.l.; Eph 6:18; Phil 4:6; IMg 7:1; cp. 1 Ti 2:1; 5:5 (s. δέησις). W. εὐχαριστία ISm 7:1. W. ἐλεημοσύναι Ac 10:4; διὰ τὴν πρ. IPol 7:1; διὰ τῶν πρ. Phlm 22; ἐν (τῇ) πρ. through prayer Mk 9:29; IEph 20:1; IPhld 8:2; in prayer IRo 9:1; ἐν ταῖς πρ. in the prayers IMg 14:1; ITr 13:1; Col 4:12. W. the same mng. ἐπὶ τῶν πρ. Ro 1:10; Eph 1:16; 1 Th 1:2; Phlm 4; κατὰ τὴν πρ. IPhld 10:1. ἡ πρ. τοῦ θεοῦ prayer to God Lk 6:12. Also πρ. γινομένη πρὸς τὸν θεόν Ac 12:5; cp. πρὸς τὸν κύριον AcPl Ha 6, 9 (πρ. πρός as Ps 68:14). ὥστε … ἐκτενῆ ὑπὸ πάντων πρ. γενέσθαι τῷ Παύλῳ so that prayers were said fervently by all for Paul AcPl Ha 6, 7. W. νηστεία Mt 17:21; Mk 9:29 v.l. Fasting called better than prayer 2 Cl 16:4a. Prayer fr. a good conscience saves fr. death, vs. 4b; drives out demons Mk 9:29. τὰς πρ. ἀναφέρειν πρὸς τὸν θεόν (ἀναφέρειν προσευχάς Orig., C. Cels. 8, 73, 32; s. ἀναφέρω 3) 2 Cl 2:2; προσκαρτερεῖν τῇ πρ. Ac 1:14; Ro 12:12; Col 4:2; cp. Ac 2:42; 6:4 (w. τῇ διακονίᾳ). ἐκπεσεῖν τῆς πρ. AcPl Ha 2, 8. σχολάζειν τῇ πρ. 1 Cor 7:5 (on prayer and abstinence s. TestNapht 8:8); see IPol 1:3. νήφειν εἰς προσευχάς 1 Pt 4:7; καταπαύειν τὴν πρ. MPol 8:1; ἀναπαύειν τὴν πρ. AcPl Ha 4, 32. αἰτεῖν ἐν τῇ πρ. Mt 21:22. προσευχῇ προσεύχεσθαι pray earnestly Js 5:17. In a kneeling position or prone on the ground; hence ἀναστὰς ἀπὸ τῆς πρ. Lk 22:45; ἐγείρεσθαι ἀπὸ τῆς πρ. Hv 2, 1, 3; εἰσηκούσθη ἡ πρ. Ac 10:31; ἀκούειν πρ. AcPl Ha 2, 14. τὸ ἴδιον ἔργον τῆς πρ. 4, 28. Public, communal prayer ἡ μετʼ ἀλλήλων πρ. ITr 12:2. αἱ πρ. ὑπέρ τινος πρὸς τὸν θεόν intercessions to God on behalf of someone Ro 15:30; ὥρα τῆς πρ. Ac 3:1 (s. ἔνατος and the lit. there.—On a fixed time for prayer s. Marinus, Vi. Procli 24 καιρὸς τῶν εὐχῶν; also 22, end). οἶκος προσευχῆς (=בֵּית־תְּפִלָּה Is 56:7) house of prayer Mt 21:13; Mk 11:17; Lk 19:46. On προσέρχεσθαι ἐπὶ προσευχήν D 4:14 s. προσέρχομαι 2. Cp. B 19:12.—For lit. s. προσεύχομαι, end.

② a place of or for prayer, place of prayer Ac 16:13, 16. Esp. used among Jews, this word is nearly always equivalent to συναγωγή in the sense of a cultic place (s. συναγωγή 2a; SKrauss, Pauly-W. 2 ser. IV, ’32, 1287f; ins New Docs 3, 121f; 4, 201f). But many consider that the πρ. in Ac 16:13, 16 was not a regular synagogue because it was attended only by women (vs. 13), and because the word συν. is freq. used elsewh. in Ac (e.g. 17:1, 10, 17); the πρ. in our passage may have been an informal meeting place, perh. in the open air (s. BSchwank VD 3, ’55, 279).—In the rare cases in which a polyth. place of prayer is called πρ., Jewish influence is almost always poss. (reff. fr. lit., ins and pap in Schürer II 425f; 439–47; Mayser I/3² ’36 p. 19; Boffo, Iscrizioni 39–60. See also 3 Macc 7:20 al.; SEG VIII, 366, 6 [II B.C.], also reff. in XLII, 1849; Dssm., NB 49f [BS 222f]; MStrack, APF 2, 1903, 541f; Philo; perh. Jos., C. Ap. 2, 10 and Ant. 14, 258 [contradictory positions on the latter in Schürer II 441, 65 and 444, 76]; Elbogen² 445; 448; 452; SZarb, De Judaeorum προσευχή in Act. 16:13, 16: Angelicum 5, 1928, 91–108; also συναγωγή 2). But such infl. must be excluded in the case of the ins fr. Epidaurus of IV B.C. (IG IV²/1, 106 I, 27), where the Doric form of προσευχή occurs in the sense ‘place of prayer’: ποτευχὰ καὶ βωμός. Hence it is also improbable in IPontEux I², 176, 7 and in Artem. 3, 53 p. 188, 27; 189, 2.—RAC VIII 1134–1258; IX 1–36; BHHW I 518–23. MHengel, Proseuche u. Synagoge, KGKuhn Festschr., ’71, 157–84; Schürer II 423–63.—DELG s.v. εὔχομαι. M-M. EDNT. TW. Sv.