Our detailed examination of the material begins with the most direct evidence, the intercessory ‘wish-prayers,’ to which we shall devote the next four chapters. For example,

The general character of the wish-prayers may be described as the expression of a desire that God take action regarding the person(s) mentioned in the wish. Several of them would seem to be prayers transposed for use in a letter, but suitable also for blessings to be pronounced on the congregation. They maintain the strictly epistolary form of address to the readers current in ancient letter style, while implying that it is God who must carry out the desired action. They may be readily changed back into direct prayers by reversing the words for God from the nominative into the vocative case, altering the pronouns or nouns that name those to be benefited from the second to the third person, and the verb back from the optative into the imperative mood.

Apart from such prayer cries as ‘Abba’ or ‘Maranatha,’ the wish-prayers are the closest approximation to direct praying that we find in the epistles, and are therefore among the most important material for our investigation.