The Shema (“Hear, O Israel…”, Deut 6:4) was recited twice every day, evening and morning. The Mishnah literally opens with the rule: “From what time may one recite the Shema in the evening?” Prayer came three times a day, morning prayer until midday, afternoon prayer (Minhah) until evening, evening prayer with no fixed limit. Daniel prayed three times daily; the Psalmist names “evening, and morning, and at noonday.” The afternoon prayer hour tracked the Temple’s daily (tamid) sacrifice, slaughtered about half past two and offered about half past three, which is why “the ninth hour” (≈ 3 PM) is called “the hour of prayer.” At the burning of incense “the whole multitude of the people were praying without”, at the incense signal the crowd in the courts fell down in silent prayer.
Daily life in Bible times
Daily prayer & the calendar
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Every cited verse, in full. Tap any reference to open it in the reader.
- Deuteronomy 6:4bsb
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One.
- Daniel 6:10bsb
Now when Daniel learned that the document had been signed, he went into his house, where the windows of his upper room opened toward Jerusalem, and three times a day he got down on his knees, prayed, and gave thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
- Psalms 55:17bsb
Morning, noon, and night, I cry out in distress, and He hears my voice.
- Acts 3:1bsb
One afternoon Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.
- Luke 1:10bsb
And at the hour of the incense offering, the whole congregation was praying outside.
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