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SUNDAY STUDY: Yom Kippur prayers

Jewish prayer book — Image of the oldest surviving prayerbook, which dates back to the 9th century, courtesy of the Museum of the Bible Collection. All rights reserved. © Museum of the Bible, 2016.

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, falls nine days after Rosh Hashanah and concludes the Ten Days of Awe (Yamim Nora’im). Yom Kippur is a solemn day of prayer and fasting, on which Jews pray for spiritual purification from past transgressions.

The liturgy for Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah is found in the Machzor, the High Holiday prayer book. The Machzor names specific sins and asks for forgiveness from them all.

“For the sin which we have committed before thee under compulsion, or of our own will;

And for the sin which we have committed before thee in hardening of the heart:

For the sin which we have committed before thee unknowingly;

And for the sin which we have committed before thee with utterance of the lips:

For the sin which we have committed before thee by unchastity;

And for the sin which we have committed before thee openly and secretly:

For the sin which we have committed before thee knowingly and deceitfully:

And for the sin which we have committed before thee in speech:

For the sin which we have committed before thee by wronging our neighbor;

And for the sin which we have committed before thee by the sinful meditating of the heart:

For the sin which we have committed before thee by association with impurity;

And for the sin which we have committed before thee by confession with the mouth alone:

For the sin which we have committed before thee by despising parents and teachers;

And for the sin which we have committed before thee in presumption or in error:

For the sin which we have committed before thee by violence;

And for the sin which we have committed before thee by the profanation of the divine Name:

For the sin which we have committed before thee by unclean lips;

And for the sin which we have committed before thee by folly of the mouth:

For the sin which we have committed before thee by the evil inclination;

And for the sin which we have committed before thee wittingly or unwittingly:

FOR ALL THESE, O GOD OF FORGIVENESS, FORGIVE US, PARDON US, GRANT US REMISSION.

For the sin which we have committed before thee by denying and lying;

And for the sin which we have committed before thee by taking of bribes:

For the sin which we have committed before thee by scoffing;

And for the sin which we have committed before thee by slander:

For the sin which we have committed before thee in business;

And for the sin which we have committed before thee in eating and drinking:

For the sin which we have committed before thee by usury and interest;

And for the sin which we have committed before thee by the stretched forth neck of pride:

For the sin which we have committed before thee by the conversation of our lips;

And for the sin which we have committed before thee with wanton looks:

For the sin which we have committed before thee with haughty eyes;

And for the sin which we have committed before thee by effrontery:

FOR ALL THESE, O GOD OF FORGIVENESS, FORGIVE US, PARDON US, GRANT US REMISSION.

For the sin which we have committed before thee by breaking off the yoke of thy commandments;

And for the sin which we have committed before them by contentiousness:

For the sin which we have committed before thee by ensnaring our neighbor;

And for the sin which we have committed before thee by envy:

For the sin which we have committed before thee by levity;

And for the sin which we have committed before thee by being stiff-necked:

For the sin which we have committed before thee by running to do evil;

And for the sin which we have committed before thee by tale-bearing:

For the sin which we have committed before thee by vain oaths;

And for the sin which we have committed before thee by causeless hatred:

For the sin which we have committed before thee by breach of trust;

And for the sin which we have committed before thee with confusion of mind:

FOR ALL THESE, O GOD OF FORGIVENESS, FORGIVE US, PARDON US, GRANT US REMISSION.”

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