A shuilla prayer follows a recognizable pattern across the many examples that survive. It opens with an extended passage of praise addressed to one particular god, most commonly Shamash the sun god, Sin the moon god or Ishtar, celebrating that deity's power, attributes and cosmic role at some length before the prayer ever states what the speaker actually wants. Only after this praise has been offered does the text turn to petition, naming the speaker's specific trouble, illness, misfortune, an enemy's hostility, and asking the god to intervene, often alongside a promise of continued devotion or offering in return.
The prayers take their name, shuilla, literally "raised hand," from the physical gesture that accompanied their recitation, one hand lifted toward the god's cult image, statue or symbolic emblem. This gesture is itself extremely common in Mesopotamian visual art, appearing on countless cylinder seals and stone reliefs where a worshipper, priest or even a king is shown standing with one hand raised before a seated or standing deity, giving modern viewers a direct visual counterpart to the verbal practice the surviving prayer texts describe.