His Supplication in Confession

His Supplication in Confession and in Seeking Repentance toward God 1- O God, three traits have prevented me from asking Theeand one trait has urged me on: 2- I am prevented by a command Thou hast commanded in which I have been slow, a prohibition Thou hast prohibited toward which I have hurried, and a favour through which Thou hast favouredfor which I have not given sufficient thanks. 3- I am urged to ask Theeby Thy gratuitous bounty upon him whoturns his face toward Theeand comes to Thee with a good opinion, since all Thy beneficence is gratuitous bountyand every one of Thy favours a new beginning! 4- So here I am, my God, standing at the gate of Thy might, the standing of the lowly, the surrendered, asking Thee in my shame, the asking of the destitute, the pitiful, 5- admitting to Thee thatat the time of Thy beneficence I surrendered notsave through abstaining from disobedience toward Theeand in none of my states was I ever withoutThy Kindness. 6- Will it profit me, my God, to admit to Thee the evil of what I have earned? Will it save me from Theeto confess the ugliness of what I have done? Or wilt Thou impose upon me in this my stationThy displeasure? Will Thy hate hold fast to me in the time ofmy supplication? 7- Glory be to Thee! I do not despair of Thee, for Thou hast opened the door of repentance toward Thyself. Rather, I say, the words of a lowly servant, having wronged himselfand made light of his Lord's inviolability, 8- and whose sins are dreadful, great, whose days have parted, fled, until, when he sees the term of his works expiredand the limit of his lifetime reachedand knows with certainty that he has no escape from Thee, no place to flee from Thee, he turns his face toward Thee in repeated turning, makes his repentance toward Thee sincere, stands before Thee with a pure and purified heart, then supplicates Thee with a feeble, quiet voice. 9- He is bowed before Thee, bent, his head lowered, thrown down, his legs shaking in fear, his tears flooding his cheeks. He supplicates Thee: O Most Merciful of the merciful! O Most Merciful of those toward whom seekers of mercy keep on turning! O Tenderest of those around whom runseekers of forgiveness! O He whose pardon is greater than