Prayer of Manasseh
Invocation1
1 O Lord Almighty,
God of our ancestors2
Abraham,3 Isaac, and Jacob,
and their righteous descendants,4
2 you who created5 heaven and earth with all their orderly arrangement,6
3 who shackled7 the sea8 by the word9 of your command,10
who closed up the abyss and sealed11 it by your awesome12 and glorious name;
4 at whose power13 all things shudder14 and tremble,
5 for your glorious magnificence15 is unbearable,16
and the wrath of your threat against sinners cannot be resisted.17
6 Yet your promised mercy18 cannot be measured or scrutinized.
7 For you are the Lord Most High,19
compassionate, longsuffering, and extremely merciful,20
and relenting at human21 misfortunes.22
Confession of Sin
8 Therefore, O Lord God of the righteous,23
you have not appointed repentance for the righteous,
such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who have not sinned against you,
but you have appointed repentance to me a sinner.24
9 Because my sins outnumber25 the sand of the sea;
my lawless acts have increased, O Lord, they have increased,
and I am not worthy to gaze upon or to see the height of heaven
due to26 the multitude of my unrighteous acts.
10 I am bent over by the weight of many an iron bond;
consequently27 I am ready to give up28 because of my sins.
I have no rest,
because I have provoked your wrath
and have committed evil in your sight,
erecting abominations29 and increasing the number of30 idols.31
Appeal for Forgiveness
11 So now I bow,32 begging for your kindness.33
12 I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned,
and I fully recognize34 my lawless acts.
13 I sincerely beseech35 you:
forgive me, O Lord, forgive me!36
Please do not destroy me along with my lawless acts!
Do not bear a grudge forever against me and thereby store up calamities37 for me.
Do not sentence me to the lowest parts of the earth.38
For you, O Lord, are the God of those who repent.
14 May39 you demonstrate40 your goodness in me.
For although I am unworthy you will deliver41 me by42 your great mercy.
15 And I will praise you continually all43 the days of my life.
For all the powers of heaven sing praises to you.
Doxology