1 Confession 2

Confession
III. Judaism
I. Rabbinic Judaism
In rabbinic texts, verbs derived from the root ydy
can mean “to confess” in piel, hifil, and hitpael for
Mishnaic Hebrew (MH), in afel for Jewish Babylo-
nian Aramaic, and in itpael for Palestinian Aramaic.
Most verb forms can also have other meanings such
as “to thank” or “to admit.” In addition, two nouns
are formed from the same root: widdui (MH and
Jewish Babylonian Aramaic) means the confession
of sins, declaration of tithe (Deut 26 : 12–15; mMSh
5 : 10–15), or declaration of first fruits (tBik 1 : 7) as
a ritual act or in the case of confession of sins as a
liturgical genre (tYom 3 : 6; bShevu 14a; bYom 87b);
hodaah/hodayah (MH) can mean confession, cf. also
odiyyah (JBA), or acknowledgment of debt. More-
over, references to the shema‘ (Deut 6 : 4–9; 11 : 13–
21; Num 15 : 37–41) are frequently translated as
confession of faith (for Second Temple Greek, see
“Confession II. New Testament”). The current entry
focuses on confession of sins and does not treat con-
fessions of faith or confessions in court and other
juridical categories.
An individual can confess his or her sins (Judah
in Gen 38 : 26; cf. bSot 7b); a community can confess
its sins in a collective act as on Yom Kippur; or an
17a; bYom 87b), one of the most famous being Attah
yodea razei olam (“You Know the Secrets of the
World”) (bYom 87b). Many confessions from geonic
times are alphabetic acrostics. A special confession
prayer was the reenaction of the high priestly con-
fessions as part of the Seder Avodah on Yom Kip-
pur. Some interpret a talmudic passage in bYom 86b
to mean sins against humans had to be confessed
openly, while sins against God had to be confessed
in secret. Besides reciting the fixed prayers of the
liturgy, someone condemned to death may confess
in order to atone for his sins and enter the world to
come (mSan 6 : 2); dangerously ill persons are urged
to do the same (bShab 32a). The following passage
expresses the necessity of confession coupled with
true repentance: “One who has sinned and con-
fesses his sin but does not repent may be compared
to a man who immerses himself while holding a
dead reptile in his hand. Even if he immerses in all
the waters of the world, they will not purify him;
once he throws away the reptile, 40 seah are suffi-
cient” (bTaan 16a).
Bibliography: ■ Boda, M. et al. (eds.), Seeking the Favor of
God, 3 vols. (SBL Early Judaism and its Literature 21–23,
Leiden/Boston, Mass. 2006–2009). ■ Heinemann, J., Prayer
in the Talmud (SJ 9; Berlin 1977). [Esp. 197–217] ■ Len-
hardt, P./M. Broyde, “Confession,” The Oxford Dictionary of
the Jewish Religion (Oxford 1997) 170–71. ■ Sokoloff, M., A
Dictionary of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic (Ramat Gan ²1992).
■ Sokoloff, M., A Dictionary of Jewish Babylonian Aramaic (Ra-

individual can confess the sins of his community mat Gan 2002). ■ Stökl Ben Ezra, D., The Impact of Yom Kip-
(Moses in Exod 32 : 31; the high priest on Yom Kip- pur on Early Christianity (WUNT 163; Tübingen 2003). [Esp.
pur in the temple). The high priest must first con- 51–54]
fess his own sins before he can pars pro toto confess Daniel Stökl Ben Ezra
those of the priesthood or all Israel.
As an audible sign of repentance, confessions
were part of the sacrificial service in the temple and
had to precede offerings (Lev 5 : 5). Rabbinic opin-
ions differ as to whether a sacrifice without confes-
sion was efficacious (yShevu 1 : 10 [33c]).
A number of Second Temple texts attest to the
role of prayers with confessions also in the non-sac-
rificial cultic forms as an action indispensible for
the rite to have effect (1QS I, 24–26; CD XX, 28–
30; 4Q393; Words of the Luminaries [1Q504]; Sir 4 : 26;
Philo, Spec. 2.196; Post. 70–72; Josephus, B.J. 5.415).
According to rabbinic sources, confessions were
part of the daily prayer (bBer 17a). The sixth bless-
ing of the weekday Amidah is an extremely brief
confession of sins. Amoraic texts also mention con-
fessions for fast days. The central liturgical Sitz im
Leben of confessions was Yom Kippur and vice
versa, confession one of the principal acts on Yom
Kippur. Confessions were part of all five services
(tYom 4 : 14), and early on they could be very long
and structured (tBer 3 : 6). Apparently, both fixed
and improvised confessions existed (tYom 4 : 14–15;
yYom 8 : 9 [45c]). Some rabbis denigrated confessing
sins which one had not committed. Many confes-
sion prayers were attributed to famous rabbis (bBer

Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception 5 (© Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/Boston 2012)