¹Lord Almighty, God of our ancestors,

²you made heaven and earth

³You set limits for the sea

by speaking your command.

You closed the bottomless pit,

and sealed it by your powerful

and glorious name.

⁴All things fear you and tremble

in your presence,

⁵because no one can endure

the brightness of your glory.

No one can resist the fury

of your threat against sinners.

⁶But your promised mercies

are beyond measure and imagination,

⁷because you are the highest, Lord,

and you feel sorry over human troubles.

Syriac

⁷You, Lord, according to

your gentle grace,

promised forgiveness to those

who are sorry for their sins.

In your great mercy,

you allowed sinners to turn

from their sins and find salvation.

⁸Therefore, Lord,

God of those who do what is right,

you didn’t offer

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,

who didn’t sin against you,

a chance to change their hearts and lives.

But you offer me, the sinner,

the chance to change my heart and life,

⁹because my sins outnumbered

the grains of sand by the sea.

My sins are many, Lord; they are many.

I am not worthy to look up,

to gaze into heaven

because of my many sins.

Syriac

⁹Now, Lord, I suffer justly.

I deserve the troubles I encounter.

Already I’m caught in a trap.

¹⁰I’m held down by iron chains

so that I can’t lift up my head

because of my sins.

There’s no relief for me,

because I made you angry,

doing wrong in front of your face,

setting up false gods

and committing offenses.

¹¹Now I bow down before you

from deep within my heart,

begging for your kindness.

¹²I have sinned, Lord, I have sinned,

and I know the laws I’ve broken.

¹³I’m praying, begging you:

Forgive me, Lord, forgive me.

Don’t destroy me along with my sins.

Don’t keep my bad deeds

in your memory forever.

Don’t sentence me to the earth’s depths,

¹⁴In me you’ll show how kind you are.

Although I’m not worthy,

¹⁵I will praise you continuously

all the days of my life,

because all of heaven’s forces praise you,

and the glory is yours

forever and always. Amen.