The prayer is included in some editions of the Greek Septuagint. For example, the 5th century Codex Alexandrinus includes the prayer among fourteen Odes appearing just after the Psalms. It is accepted as a deuterocanonical book by some Orthodox Christians, though it does not appear in Bibles printed in Greece. The prayer is chanted during the Orthodox Christian and Byzantine Catholic service of Great Compline.

It is used in the Roman Rite as part of the Responsory after the first reading in the Office of Readings on the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (along with Psalm 51). It is used also as a canticle in the Daily Office of the 1979 U.S. Book of Common Prayer used by the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.

The prayer appears in ancient Syriac, Old Slavonic, Ethiopic, and Armenian translations. In the Ethiopian Bible, the prayer is found in 2 Chronicles.

The Greek original text of the prayer

Κύριε παντοκράτορ, ὁ Θεὸς τῶν Πατέρων ἡμῶν, τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ἰακὼβ καὶ τοῦ σπέρματος αὐτῶν τοῦ δικαίου· ὁ ποιήσας τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν σὺν παντὶ τῷ κόσμῳ αὐτῶν· ὁ πεδήσας τὴν θάλασσαν τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ προστάγματός σου· ὁ κλείσας τὴν ἄβυσσον καὶ σφραγισάμενος αὐτὴν τῷ φοβερῷ καὶ ἐνδόξῳ ὀνόματί σου· ὃν πάντα φρίσσει καὶ τρέμει ἀπὸ προσώπου τῆς δυνάμεώς σου· ὅτι ἄστεκτος ἡ μεγαλοπρέπεια τῆς δόξης σου, καὶ ἀνυπόστατος ἡ ὀργὴ τῆς ἐπὶ ἁμαρτωλοῖς ἀπειλῆς σου, ἀμέτρητόν τε καὶ ἀνεξιχνίαστον τὸ ἔλεος τῆς ἐπαγγελίας σου. Σὺ γὰρ εἶ Κύριος ὕψιστος, εὔσπλαγχνος, μακρόθυμος καὶ πολυέλεος καὶ μετανοῶν ἐπὶ κακίας ἀνθρώπων. Σύ, Κύριε, κατὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῆς χρηστότητός σου, ἐπηγγείλω μετάνοιαν καὶ ἄφεσιν τοῖς ἡμαρτηκόσι σοι, καὶ τῷ πλήθει τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν σου ὥρισας μετάνοιαν ἁμαρτωλοῖς εἰς σωτηρίαν. Σὺ οὖν, Κύριε, ὁ Θεὸς τῶν δυνάμεων, οὐκ ἔθου μετάνοιαν δικαίοις, τῷ Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ἰακώβ, τοῖς ούχ ἡμαρτηκόσι σοι, ἀλλ’ ἔθου μετάνοιαν ἐπ’ ἐμοὶ τῷ ἁμαρτωλῷ, διότι ἥμαρτον ὑπὲρ ἀριθμὸν ψάμμου θαλάσσης. Ἐπλήθυναν αἱ ἀνομίαι μου, Κύριε· ἐπλήθυναν αἱ ἀνομίαι μου, καὶ οὔκ εἰμι ἄξιος ἀτενίσαι καὶ ἰδεῖν τὸ ὕψος τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἀπὸ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν ἀδικιῶν μου, κατακαμπτόμενος πολλῷ δεσμῷ σιδηρῷ, εἰς τὸ μὴ ἀνανεῦσαι τὴν κεφαλήν μου, καὶ οὐκ ἔστι μοι ἄνεσις· διότι παρώργισα τὸν θυμόν σου καὶ τὸ πονηρὸν ἐνώπιόν σου ἐποίησα, μὴ ποιήσας τὸ θέλημά σου καὶ μὴ φυλάξας τὰ προστάγματά σου. Καὶ νῦν κλίνω γόνυ καρδίας, δεόμενος τῆς παρὰ σοῦ χρηστότητος. Ἡμάρτηκα, Κύριε, ἡμάρτηκα καὶ τὰς ἀνομίας μου ἐγὼ γινώσκω· ἀλλ’ αἰτοῦμαι δεόμενος· Ἄνες μοι, Κύριε, ἄνες μοι, καὶ μὴ συναπολέσῃς με ταῖς ἀνομίαις μου, μηδὲ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα μηνίσας τηρήσῃς τὰ κακά μοι, μηδὲ καταδικάσῃς με ἐν τοῖς κατωτάτοις τῆς γῆς, διότι σὺ εἶ Θεός, Θεὸς τῶν μετανοούντων, καὶ ἐν ἐμοὶ δείξεις πᾶσαν τὴν ἀγαθωσύνην σου· ὅτι ἀνάξιον ὄντα σῴσεις με κατὰ τὸ πολὺ ἔλεός σου, καὶ αἰνέσω σε διὰ παντὸς ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις τῆς ζωῆς μου. Ὅτι σὲ ὑμνεῖ πᾶσα ἡ δύναμις τῶν οὐρανῶν καὶ σοῦ ἐστιν ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

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