St Ephrem’s prayer before sleep

A bedtime prayer credited to St Ephrem the Syrian. It asks Christ for peaceful sleep, free of disturbing dreams and of the evil one.

Picture: Melchior Paul von Deschwanden, A Guardian Angel Watches over a Sleeping Child, 1859

Plain English

Lord, if I stay awake to pray,let me stand before You pure;and if I sleep, my Saviour,let my sleep be free from sin.If I do wrong while I am awake,Lord, forgive me by Your grace;if I sin while I am asleep,let Your kindness be my atonement.

Through the cross on which You were humbled,give me sleep that refreshes me,and deliver me from disturbing dreamsand from unholy imaginings.Let the whole night lead mein sleep that is full of peace.Do not let evil beings rule over me,or thoughts full of wickedness.

Through Your living body, which I have eaten,deliver me from hateful desire,and I will lie down and sleep in peace.Let Your blood protect me.To my soul, which You made,give the freedom of Your likeness,and let Your right hand watch overthe body that Your hands have formed.

Let the wall of Your mercy surround melike a shield to defend me,and when my body lies still in sleep,let Your kindness guard it.Do not let the evil one come near my bed,through the prayers of the mother who bore You.By Your sacrifice for all people,drive Satan away, so that he does not pursue me.

Lord, keep Your promise to me,and guard my life by Your cross,and when I wake I will praise You,because You have shown Your love to me, lowly as I am.Let those who sleep, filled with rest,and the watchers who have armed themselves,give glory to You, O living Watcher,Who made me a watcher for Your praise.

Traditional wording, 1853

Grant, Lord, that if I keep my vigils,I may stand in purity before Thee;And if, oh my Saviour, I slumber,Let my sleep be free from sin.If in my watching I commit iniquity,Oh Lord by Thy grace forgive me;If I sin when sleeping,Let Thy kindness be my expiation.

And through the cross of Thy humiliation,Afford me refreshing slumber;And deliver me from disturbing dreams,And from profane imaginations;And in sleep full of peace,Let all the night conduct me;Let not evil beings have dominion over me,Nor thoughts full of iniquity.

And from hateful concupiscence deliver meThrough Thy living body which I have eaten;And I will lie down and sleep in peace.And let Thy blood be a protector to me:—And to the soul which is Thy productionGrant the freedom of Thy likeness;And let Thy right hand watch overThe body which Thy hands have formed.

Let the wall of Thy mercy encompass meLike a buckler of defence;And when my body is still, and slumbers,Let Thy kindness be its guard.Let not the evil one approach my couch,Thro’ the supplication of the mother who bare Thee;And by Thy sacrifice on behalf of all men,Put Satan to flight that he persecute me not.

And, Lord, perform Thy promise to me,And protect my life by Thy cross;And when I awake I will praise Thee,Because Thou hast displayed Thy love to my lowliness.From the sleepers, satisfied with rest,And the watchers who have put on their arms,Be glory to Thee, Thou guardian Spirit!Who hast made me a watcher for Thy praise!

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from Henry Burgess’s 1853 English of the Syriac, with his notes on the Syriac words. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: Henry Burgess, Select Metrical Hymns and Homilies of Ephraem Syrus, 1853.

Where the plain wording calls Christ the “living Watcher”, Burgess’s verse has “guardian Spirit”. His own note gives the Syriac as “Thou living watcher”, meaning Christ.

When it is said

Its English translator titled it “Before retiring to Rest”, a prayer for the last moments of the day.

One line speaks of Christ’s body “which I have eaten”, meaning Holy Communion, which Orthodox children receive from infancy.

Where it comes from

Author by tradition

Who wrote it?

Tradition credits it to St Ephrem the Syrian. He served as a deacon in Nisibis, later lived in Edessa, and died in AD 373. The prayer is one of 76 Exhortations to Penitence printed in Syriac under his name in the Roman edition of his works (1732 to 1743). The Syriac scholar G. M. Kessel notes that some of those chapters are certainly not Ephrem’s own, so this one may be later.

Henry Burgess, Select Metrical Hymns and Homilies of Ephraem Syrus (1853), Introduction; G. M. Kessel, a bibliographical index of St Ephrem’s works translated from Syriac (Azbyka, in Russian); Wikipedia, “Ephrem the Syrian”

Straight from the Syriac

The Anglican priest Henry Burgess translated the prayer from the Syriac and published it in London in 1853. He warned that the old Latin translation of these hymns could not be trusted, and he showed why from this prayer. Its plain words “by Thy sacrifice” had become, in the Latin, a long phrase about the sacrifice offered to the eternal Father on the most holy altar of the Cross.

Henry Burgess, Select Metrical Hymns and Homilies of Ephraem Syrus (1853), notes to Hymn 27

What the words mean

The living Watcher

Burgess explains the last lines in a note. The Syriac word he put into verse as “guardian Spirit” is one that church writers used for the guardian spirits thought to watch over good people. Here the prayer calls Christ “Thou living watcher”, and in its last line the one praying takes the same word for himself, “a watcher for Thy praise”.

Henry Burgess, Select Metrical Hymns and Homilies of Ephraem Syrus (1853), notes to Hymn 27

The Scripture in it

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

Psalm 4:8 Echoed “I will lie down and sleep in peace.”

Your hands have made me and fashioned me; give me understanding to learn Your commandments.

Psalm 119:73 Echoed The body that God’s hands have formed.

… that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

Romans 8:21 Echoed The freedom of God’s likeness, which Burgess ties to the glorious freedom of God’s children.

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.

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