Our God and God of our fathers!

You are my portion and the rock of my heart I longed for You in the night as I lay on my bed; to You, Adonoy, I call when my heart is faint.

We have betrayed You and have thus increased Your fury and anger, we have been stepped on and crushed, for we have no good deeds.

Our distress has greatly increased, for we have erred in our vision [of truth] and stumbled in our judgement, and [even] all our righteous deeds are as filthy rags.

We lack knowledge, we are simpletons without wit, even high angels, You charge with folly, how much more so man, who is but a worm.

Behold, You lift the isles as dust particles, should You search and examine wrongdoings, what could we speak and how could we justify ourselves?

I searched for one to set up the fence and stand in the breach,¹ but there is no upright one to appease You; the pious man has perished from the earth.

footnotes: ¹ To protect us from destruction with his prayers and good deeds.

My destined time² is hidden from my knowledge, my iniquities have caused my glory to be cut down; indeed, I acknowledge my transgressions.

footnotes: ² Of my redemption from exile.

I cry of violent robbery, but there is none to deliver me; why is the righteous surrounded by the wicked? Your hand is not powerless to deliver us.

Your lambs [Israel] are beaten by [the enemy] who roar [with triumph] like the sea, they are ravished and robbed in the hands of the nations; “Why have You forgotten us forever, forsaken us for so long a time.”³

footnotes: ³ Lamentations 5:20.

Jacob has been given for a spoil, and Israel to plunderers; she who was honored with a canopy of seven clouds⁴ is now dumb like a sheep before shearing.⁵

footnotes: ⁴ When she left Egypt. ⁵ Her crying is of no avail.

The miser and degenerate [are seated] like a king at his table, while the generous and noble are banished for their debt,⁶ like an unwanted vessel.

footnotes: ⁶ The sins of the vile and degenerate.

Do not preserve [our iniquity] forever to destroy us, when Your left hand thrusts us away, let Your right hand draw us near; O Master, we are oppressed, be our surety.

We have had a bad name from long and yet You have given hope to the repentant with a generous spirit, [saying:] “I will heal their rebelliousness, I will love them in free-willed devotion.”

My eyes flow like a stream with tears, the mockers enjoy tranquility while my gladness has ceased; and as for me, in an instant my feet would have slipped.

Seek the lost sheep, the people that will be saved [by You], even though they have been found with sin and transgression from the womb, and the righteous man has fallen before the wicked.

[Your] testimony to Jacob is sealed in the Torah, that in the land of their enemy, You promised to preserve them alive, even were they to be so situated.

Remove transgressions and erase guilt, lest hell enlarges itself to squeeze in⁷ and opens its mouth without limit.

footnotes: ⁷ To take in more souls.

Behold the storm⁸ and draw near to free us, raise us and pull us from the muddy mire, return, Adonoy, free our souls.

footnotes: ⁸ The exile is compared to a storm.

We have sanctified a day of fasting,⁹ to approach You in prayer, prepare beforehand healing for our wounds, remember Your congregation, which You acquired of old.

footnotes: ⁹ Yom Kippur.

Lay aside anger, withhold wrath, those who are held prisoners [Israel], pull them out with bonds of love from the dungeon, where they sit in darkness.

Proclaim liberty to the broken and desolate, cut away the bars and break the yoke,¹⁰ heal her fragments for she totters.¹¹

footnotes: ¹⁰ Of their exile. ¹¹ This is a plea for the redemption of the Land of Israel.

You have set repentance [as a remedy] against the reptile and serpent,¹² I hope in Him Who forgives and pardons, and even should He slay me, yet I trust in Him.

footnotes: ¹² A reference to the Evil Inclination.

Turn Your ear to us, O Creator, hear O God those who seek You, listen to those who entreat You, accept my prayer as incense¹³ before You.

footnotes: ¹³ As an offering of incense.

Strengthen the faint and fortify the feeble, establish the Temple, restore the canopy [Your Shechinah], do good, as You see fit, to Zion.

Almighty! King! Who sits on the throne of mercy, governs with kindness forgives the iniquities of His people. He removes their sins one by one, increasing forgiveness to sinners, and pardon to transgressors. Acting righteously with all who are of flesh and spirit; not according to their wickedness does He repay them. Almighty! You instructed us to recite the thirteen Divine attributes; remember unto us this day the covenant of thirteen Divine attributes, as You made them known to the humble Moses of old, as it is written, “And Adonoy descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the Name, Adonoy.

Congregation and Chazzan:

And Adonoy passed before him [Moses], and proclaimed:

Adonoy, Adonoy, Almighty, Merciful, Gracious, Slow to Anger, and Abundant in Kindness, and Truth. Keeper of kindness for thousands of generations, Endurer of iniquity, and transgression, and sin; and Acquitter of those who repent. “And pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Your inheritance.”

Pardon us our Father, for we have sinned, forgive us our King, for we have transgressed. “For You, my Master, are good and forgiving, and abounding in kindness to all who call upon You.”

Too long has our soul dwelt with those who hate peace. I am for peace; but when I speak they are for war. Let there be peace within your moats serenity withing your palaces. Peace, peace to the far one and to the near one, says Adonoy, and I will heal him. Adonoy, arrange peace for us, for indeed all our works, have You done for us. Adonoy will give strength to His people, Adony will bless His people with peace. Rule and awe are with Him, He Who makes peace in His high heavens. For you will go out [of exile] with joy, and be led forth in peace [to Zion].

As a father has compassion on his children so do You have compassion on us, Adonoy. Deliverance is Adonoy’s; upon Your people is Your blessing. Selah! Adonoy of Hosts is with us, a stronghold for us is the God of Jacob. Selah! Adonoy of Hosts! fortunate is the man who trusts in You. Adonoy, deliver us; the King will answer us on the day we call.

“Please pardon the sins of this nation in accordance with the greatness of Your lovingkindness; and as You forgave this people from when it left Egypt until now.” And there it is said:

“And Adonoy said, I have pardoned [them] as you have asked.”

Incline Your ear, my God, and hear, open Your eyes and behold our desolate places, and the city which is called by Your Name; for it is not on account of our righteousness that we let fall our supplication before You, but because of Your great mercy. My Master, hear! My Master, pardon! My Master, listen and take action, do not delay! For Your sake, my God, because Your Name is proclaimed over Your city and over Your people.