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Chapter 15Haberm.1.15

Gebet um Vergebung der Sünden

The Burden of Sin and Human Frailty

A humble confession of universal sinfulness and the inability of human righteousness to stand before God's judgment.

Merciful God, eternal Father! My sins are great; my wrongdoing is many and strong; my transgressions are beyond counting, for from my youth all my thinking and striving has been inclined only toward evil.✦ Ah, Lord, who can discern how often he fails?✦ Look, I acknowledge my wrongdoing, and my sin is always before me.✦ Against you alone I have sinned and done evil in your sight, so that you are proved right in your words and remain pure when you are judged.✦ But I ask for your unspeakable kindness: do not enter into judgment with your servant, for before you no living person is righteous.✦1 If you, Lord, should charge us with sin, Lord, who could stand?✦ For look, a human being cannot answer you even one charge in a thousand, since all our righteousness before you is like a stained cloth.✦✦2

Plea for Mercy and Redemption in Christ

A petition for divine forgiveness based solely on the mercy of God and the atoning work of Jesus Christ.

Therefore, have mercy on me according to your goodness, and blot out my sins according to your great mercy. Wash me thoroughly from my wrongdoing, and cleanse me from all my sin for your name's sake. Lord, be gracious to me and heal my soul, for I have sinned against you, to my sorrow.✦✦ Remember, Lord, your goodness, which has been from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth and my transgressions, but remember me according to your great mercy, for the sake of your goodness. Remember also that we are flesh—a wind that passes and does not return—and turn away from your anger and wrath against us.✦✦3 O kind God! I confess indeed that neither my works nor my merit can blot out my sin or earn your grace; only the holy suffering and death of Jesus Christ, the spotless Lamb, is a true payment for our offense, and his blood, shed for the forgiveness of our sins, is a washing and cleansing of our souls.✦✦4 On such trust and hope I cry out to you, that of your grace you would forgive your people's transgression, cover the sin, and not count our wrongdoing against us.✦ Forgive me also my hidden faults, so that my troubled soul and my bones, which are badly shaken with fear, may be made glad again; for mercy and forgiveness are yours, and with you is grace and abundant redemption.✦✦✦ O Lord, hear the voice of my pleading, and do not despise the wailing of my heart, for Jesus Christ's sake.✦ Amen.

Read the original Latin

Barmherziger Gott, ewiger Vater! Groß sind meine Sünden, viel und mächtig ist meine Missetat, meine Übertretungen sind unzählig, denn all mein Dichten und Trachten von Jugend auf ist nur zum Bösen geneigt. Ach Herr, wer kann merken, wie oft er fehlet? Siehe, ich erkenne meine Missetat, und meine Sünde ist immer vor mir. An dir allein habe ich gesündigt, und übel vor dir getan, auf dass du recht behaltest in deinen Worten und rein bleibest, wenn du gerichtet wirst. Ich bitte aber deine unaussprechliche Mildigkeit, gehe nicht in’s Gericht mit deinem Knecht, denn vor dir ist kein Lebendiger gerecht. Wenn du, Herr, willst Sünde zurechnen, Herr, wer wird bestehen? Denn siehe, auf tausend kann der Mensch dir nicht eines antworten, sintemal alle unsere Gerechtigkeit vor dir wie ein beflecktes Tuch ist.

Derhalben erbarme dich meiner nach deiner Güte, und tilge meine Sünden nach deiner großen Barmherzigkeit; wasche mich wohl von meiner Missetat, und reinige mich von aller meiner Sünde um deines Namens willen; Herr, sei mir gnädig, heile meine Seele, denn ich habe leider an dir gesündigt. Gedenke, Herr, an deine Güte, die von der Welt her gewesen ist; gedenke nicht der Sünden meiner Jugend und meiner Übertretung, gedenke aber mein nach deiner großen Barmherzigkeit um deiner Güte willen; gedenke auch, dass wir Fleisch sind, ein Wind, der dahin fährt und nicht wieder kommt, und lass ab von deinem Zorn und Grimm über uns. O gütiger Gott! Ich bekenne ja, dass nicht meine Werke oder Verdienst mögen austilgen meine Sünde, oder deine Gnade erwerben; sondern allein das heilige Leiden und Sterben Jesu Christi, des unbefleckten Lämmleins, ist eine rechte Bezahlung für unsere Misshandlung, und sein Blut, vergossen zur Vergebung unserer Sünden, ist eine Abwaschung und Reinigung unserer Seelen. Auf solch Vertrauen und Hoffnung rufe ich zu dir, du wollest die Übertretung deinem Volk aus Gnaden vergeben, die Sünd bedecken, unsere Missetat uns nicht zurechnen. Verzeihe mir auch die verborgenen Fehler, auf dass meine betrübte Seele und die Gebeine, welche sehr erschrocken sind, wiederum erfreuet werden, denn dein ist die Barmherzigkeit und Vergebung, bei dir ist Gnade und viel Erlösung. O Herr, erhöre die Stimme meines Flehens, und verachte nicht das Heulen meines Herzens, um Jesu Christi willen. Amen.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Gen.6.5 — And the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
  2. ↩Ps.19.12 — Even Your servant is warned by them; in keeping them there is great reward.
  3. ↩Ps.51.3 — Be gracious to me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions.
  4. ↩Ps.51.4 — Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
  5. ↩Ps.143.2 — And do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you.
  6. ↩Ps.130.3 — If you kept watch over iniquities, O LORD, who could stand?
  7. ↩Job.9.3 — If someone wished to contend with God, he could not answer Him once in a thousand.
  8. ↩Isa.64.6 — And there is no one who calls on your name, who rouses themselves to hold fast to you; for you have hidden your face from us, and you have dissolved us by the power of our iniquity.
  9. ↩Ps.51.1-Ps.51.2 — To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. Ps.51.2 — Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
  10. ↩Ps.41.4 — The LORD sustains him on his bed of illness; you turn all his lying down in his sickness.
  11. ↩Ps.25.6-Ps.25.7 — Remember your compassions, LORD, and your covenant-loves, for they are from eternity. Ps.25.7 — Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness' sake, O LORD.
  12. ↩Ps.78.39 — He remembered that they were flesh, a passing wind that does not return.
  13. ↩1Pet.1.19 — but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot
  14. ↩Matt.26.28;1John.1.7 — For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 1John.1.7 — But if we walk in the light, as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
  15. ↩Ps.32.1-Ps.32.2;Rom.4.7-Rom.4.8 — Of David. A Maskil. Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Ps.32.2 — Blessed is the one to whom the LORD does not count iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. Rom.4.7 — Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered over. Rom.4.8 — Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.
  16. ↩Ps.19.12 — Even Your servant is warned by them; in keeping them there is great reward.
  17. ↩Ps.51.8 — Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden places You will teach me wisdom.
  18. ↩Ps.130.4 — For with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.
  19. ↩Ps.28.2 — Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy, when I cry out to you, when I lift up your hands toward your holy sanctuary.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Mildigkeit rendered as kindness (clemency/gentleness); alternatives: gentleness, mildness.
  2. 2 ↩sintemal rendered as since (causal); archaic German for 'since/inasmuch as'.
  3. 3 ↩"von der Welt her" rendered as the familiar scriptural cadence "from of old" (Ps 25:6); more woodenly, "from the beginning of the world."
  4. 4 ↩"Misshandlung" here is older German for offense/wrongdoing before God, not interpersonal abuse; rendered "offense."

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