Prayers before Confession

The Prayer of Manasseh

Lord almighty, God of our fathers, of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and of their righteous posterity,

You have made heaven and earth with all their adornment.

You have bound the sea with Your word of command.

You have confined the abyss and sealed it with Your fearful and glorious name.

All things shudder and tremble before Your power.

The magnificence of Your glory cannot be endured.

The wrath of Your threat against sinners cannot be resisted.

Yet immeasurable and unsearchable is Your promised mercy.

For You are the Lord Most High, compassionate, long-suffering and merciful, turning away from the evils of people.

You, Lord according to the abundance of Your goodness, have promised repentance and forgiveness to those who have sinned against You;

And in the multitude of Your loving kindness You have appointed repentance for sinners unto salvation.

Surely, Lord, God of the heavenly powers, You have not appointed repentance for the righteous, for Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, who did not sin against You;

But You have appointed repentance for me a sinner.

For the sins I have committed are more in number than the sands of the sea.

My transgressions are multiplied, Lord, they are multiplied!

I am unworthy to look up and see the height of heaven because of the multitude of my iniquities.

I am weighed down with many evil bonds and cannot lift up my head because of my sins.

I have no relief because I have provoked Your wrath and have done evil before You, not doing Your will, nor keeping Your commandments, but setting up abominations and multiplying offenses.

And now I bend the knee of my heart beseeching Your goodness.

I have sinned, Lord, I have sinned and I know my transgressions.

Do not be angry with me forever or store up evils for me; and do not condemn me to the depths of Hades.

For You, Lord, are the God of those who repent, and to me You will show Your goodness.

Unworthy as I am, You will save me in Your great mercy and I will praise You continually all the days of my life.

For all the powers of heaven sing Your praises and Yours is the glory forever. Amen.

Read more prayers at goarch.org.