Orthodox prayers for when you can’t sleep

Prayers for lying awake at night, when sleep will not come and your mind will not rest.

Picture: Constance Marie Charpentier, Melancholy, 1801

4 prayers

When you lie awake

In peace I will lie down (Psalm 4)

Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness.When I was in distress, You gave me relief.Be gracious to me, and hear my prayer.

Be angry, and do not sin.Talk with your own heart on your bed, and be still.Offer right sacrifices,and put your trust in the LORD.

Many are saying, “Who will show us any good?”LORD, lift up the light of Your face upon us.You have put more joy in my heartthan they have when their grain and new wine abound.

In peace I will lie down and sleep,for You alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety.

Traditional wording, 1611

Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness:Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress;have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.

Stand in awe, and sin not:commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still.Offer the sacrifices of righteousness,and put your trust in the LORD.

There be many that say, Who will shew us any good?LORD, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us.Thou hast put gladness in my heart,more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.

I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep:for Thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.

In this psalm David tells you to talk with your own heart on your bed and be still. It ends, “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for You alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety.”

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Hebrew (verses 1 and 4 to 8), with the King James Version beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: The King James translators, The King James Version, 1611.

Where it comes from, and the original

For rest of body and soul

Prayer for peaceful sleep

Grant us, O Master, as we go to sleep,rest of body and of soul.Keep us from the gloomy sleep of sinand from every dark pleasure of the night.

Calm the stirrings of passion.Quench the fiery arrows of the evil one,aimed at us with cunning.Quiet the rebellions of our flesh,and lull to sleep every earthly and worldly thought in us.

Give us, O God, a watchful mind,pure thoughts and a sober heart,and gentle sleep, free from every illusion of the devil.

Wake us at the hour of prayer,firm in Your commandments,with the memory of Your judgmentsunbroken within us.

Grant that we may praise You all night long,singing, blessing and glorifyingYour most honoured and majestic name,the name of the Father, and of the Son,and of the Holy Spirit,now and always, and for ever and ever. Amen.

Traditional wording, 1906

And grant unto us, O Master, as we lay us down to sleep, repose both of body and of soul,and preserve us from the gloomy slumber of sin, and from every dark and nocturnal sensuality.

Calm Thou the impulses of carnal desires: quench the fiery darts of the evil one which are craftily directed against us.Assuage the rebellions of our flesh. Still our every earthly and material anxiety;

and vouchsafe unto us, O God, a watchful mind, a chaste reason, a sober heart, sleep gentle and free from every vision of the devil;

and raise us up again at the hour of prayer, strengthened in Thy precepts, and holding steadfastly within us the memory of Thy commandments.

Grant that all the night long we may sing praises unto Thee, and that we may hymn, and bless, and glorify Thine all-honourable and majestic Name,of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now, and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

The Church prays it at Compline, the service before sleep. It asks Christ to lull every earthly and worldly thought to sleep and to give gentle sleep.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Greek, with Hapgood’s 1906 translation beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: Isabel F. Hapgood, Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic Church, 1906.

Hapgood writes “Still our every earthly and material anxiety”. The Greek asks Christ to put our earthly thoughts to sleep, and this page keeps that picture.

Where it comes from, and the Greek

When your mind will not stop

You held my eyes open (Psalm 77)

I cried aloud to God;I cried aloud to God, and He heard me.In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord.Through the night my hand was stretched out without tiring,and my soul refused to be comforted.I remembered God, and I groaned;I pondered, and my spirit grew faint.

You held my eyes open;I was so troubled that I could not speak.I thought about the days of old,the years long past.In the night I remembered my song;I talked with my own heart,and my spirit searched:

“Will the Lord reject for ever?Will He never show His favour again?Has His steadfast love vanished for ever?Has His promise failed for all generations?Has God forgotten to be gracious?Has He in anger shut off His compassion?”

Then I said, “This is my grief:that the right hand of the Most High has changed.”I will remember the deeds of the LORD;yes, I will remember Your wonders of old.I will think on all Your workand ponder all that You have done.

Your way, O God, is holy.What god is as great as God?You are the God Who works wonders;You have shown Your strength among the peoples.With Your arm You redeemed Your people,the children of Jacob and Joseph.

Your way went through the sea,Your path through the mighty waters,and Your footprints were not seen.You led Your people like a flockby the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Traditional wording, 1611

I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice;and He gave ear unto me.In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord:my sore ran in the night, and ceased not:my soul refused to be comforted.I remembered God, and was troubled:I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed.

Thou holdest mine eyes waking:I am so troubled that I cannot speak.I have considered the days of old,the years of ancient times.I call to remembrance my song in the night:I commune with mine own heart:and my spirit made diligent search.

Will the Lord cast off for ever?and will He be favourable no more?Is His mercy clean gone for ever?doth His promise fail for evermore?Hath God forgotten to be gracious?hath He in anger shut up His tender mercies?

And I said, This is my infirmity:but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.I will remember the works of the LORD:surely I will remember Thy wonders of old.I will meditate also of all Thy work,and talk of Thy doings.

Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary:who is so great a God as our God?Thou art the God that doest wonders:Thou hast declared Thy strength among the people.Thou hast with Thine arm redeemed Thy people,the sons of Jacob and Joseph.

Thy way is in the sea,and Thy path in the great waters,and Thy footsteps are not known.Thou leddest Thy people like a flockby the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Show the whole prayer

The psalmist lies awake through the night with questions he cannot stop asking. Then he turns his mind to what God has done, and the psalm ends with God leading His people like a flock.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Hebrew (verses 1 to 15, 19 and 20), with the King James Version beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: The King James translators, The King James Version, 1611.

In verse 2 the King James Version has “my sore ran in the night”, where the Hebrew speaks of a hand stretched out through the night. In verse 10 it reads “the years of the right hand of the Most High”, where the plain wording follows the other reading of the Hebrew, that God’s right hand “has changed”.

Where it comes from, and the original

For a weary mind and a heavy heart

St Ambrose’s evening hymn

O God, Creator of all thingsand Ruler of the heavens,You clothe the day in lovely lightand the night in the gift of sleep,

so that rest may restore our tired limbs for work,lift up our weary mindsand relieve our anxious grief,

and so that, when the deep dark of nighthas closed the day,faith may know no darknessand the night may shine with faith.

Freed from wayward feeling,may the depths of our hearts dream of You,and may no fear wake us from our restthrough the cunning of the envious enemy.

Let us pray to Christ and to the Father,and to the Spirit of Christ and the Father.O Trinity, one and mighty over all,cherish us as we pray.

Traditional wording, 1906

Creator of the earth and sky,Ruling the firmament on high,Clothing the day with robes of light,Blessing with gracious sleep the night,

That rest may comfort weary men,And brace to useful toil again,And soothe awhile the harassed mind,And sorrow’s heavy load unbind:

That when black darkness closes day,And shadows thicken round our way,Faith may no darkness know, and nightFrom faith’s clear beam may borrow light.

From cheats of sense, Lord, keep me free,And let my heart’s depth dream of Thee;Let not my envious foe draw near,To break my rest with any fear.

Pray we the Father and the Son,And Holy Ghost: O Three in One,Blest Trinity, Whom all obey,Guard Thou Thy sheep by night and day. Amen.

After burying his mother, St Augustine slept and woke to find his grief much eased. Lying alone in bed, he remembered this hymn of St Ambrose. It praises God for the gift of sleep, which lifts weary minds and relieves anxious grief.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Latin (verses 1, 2, 5, 7 and 8 of its eight), with Charles Bigg’s English of 1906 beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: Charles Bigg, The English Hymnal, 1906.

Bigg wrote his English to be sung, so it strays further from the Latin than the plain wording does. His last verse asks the Trinity to guard “Thy sheep by night and day”, where the Latin asks God to cherish those who pray.

Where it comes from, and the Latin

Scripture for this

In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for bread to eat—for He gives sleep to His beloved.

Psalm 127:2 Rising early and staying up late to toil is in vain, because God gives sleep to those He loves.

The LORD decrees His loving devotion by day, and at night His song is with me as a prayer to the God of my life.

Psalm 42:8 Even while his soul is downcast, the psalmist has God’s song with him at night as a prayer to the God of his life.

My eyes anticipate the watches of night, that I may meditate on Your word.

Psalm 119:148 Awake before the watches of the night, the psalmist spends the hours thinking on God’s word.

¹⁷How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God, how vast is their sum! ¹⁸If I were to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand; and when I awake, I am still with You.

Psalm 139:17-18 God’s thoughts outnumber the grains of sand, and the psalmist wakes to find he is still with God.

When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you rest, your sleep will be sweet.

Proverbs 3:24 Whoever keeps God’s wisdom close can lie down without fear, and their sleep will be sweet.

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.

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