1 O LORD, turn not thy face away
From them that lowly lie,
Lamenting sore their sinful life
With tears and bitter cry;
Thy mercy's gates are open wide
To them that mourn their sin;
O shut them not against us, Lord!
But let us enter in.
2 We need not to confess our fault,
For surely thou canst tell;
What we have done, and what we are,
Thou knowest very well:
Wherefore to beg and to intreat,
With tears we come to thee,
As children that have done amiss
Fall at their father's knee.
3 And need we, then, O Lord, repeat
The blessing which we crave,
When thou dost know before we speak
The thing that we would have?
Mercy, O Lord! mercy we ask,
This is the total sum:
For mercy, Lord, is all our prayer;
O let thy mercy come!