The emergence of penitential prayer represents a significant formal shift in the prayer tradition of Israel. The essays collected in this volume investigate the beginnings of penitential prayer literature in the Hebrew Bible in the Babylonian and Persian periods. The contributors offer a fresh look at various aspects of the shift from communal lament to penitential prayer as well as the relationship between them, in the process applying new approaches and methodologies to such questions as the meaning and importance of confession to penitential prayer and the necessity of penitential prayer as a prequel to repentance. The contributors are Samuel Balentine, Mark J. Boda, Dalit Rom-Shiloni, Jay C. Hogewood, Richard J. Bautch, William Morrow, Judith Gärtner, Katherine M. Hayes, Michael Duggan, and Rodney A. Werline.