"speaking," "talking," "complaining," "declaring," in one instance only is it translated "pray," and that in the apparently important text Ps. lv. 17, "Evening and morning and at noon will I pray." As a substantive the word is rendered as "complaint," "talking, meditation," "babbling," and only once "prayer," and that in Ps. lv. 2, "Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer." No. 13 is generally translated "ask," as we should remark, "well, if he asks me what must I say?" "beg," as "he shall beg in harvest;" "consulted," in the text "he consulted with images," "salute," "to salute him of peace;" "enquired," "Saul enquired of the Lord;" "wished," "and wished in himself to die;" "lent," "I have lent him to the Lord," "so that they lent unto them." No. 14 is used exclusively for prayer, but the word is not to be found in the whole of the Pentateuch. III. There is reason to believe that the most important of these words have come from the Persian, a language allied to the Sanscrit; and if so, it is clear that the idea of prayer was adopted by the Jews after they were patronised by the conquerors of Babylon. Some of the other words are Aramaic, and probably even more modern than the rest. For example, No. 10 is compared by Furst in his Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon, to the Sanscrit phal, and No. 8 may also be derived from the Persian, and a Sanscrit root gad, which signifies "to speak to," or "call upon," Anahf No. 1, is Aramaic.