This post offers the Hebrew and English text of The Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, as well as a calming melody composed by The Nava Tehila Ensemble. Enumerated in Exodus 34:6–7 these Divine Attributes are frequently recited in the selichot penitential prayers before and after Rosh Hashanah, as well as in the Yom Kippur services. To hear a popular Ashkenazi melody from Chabad.org, click here. The Nava Tehila Ensemble is a Jerusalem-based group who perform both original and traditional music that draws on Jewish, Israeli and world sources to create a spiritually uplifting experience.
The Thirteen Attributes of Mercy (Exodus 34:6-7)
וַיַּעֲבֹר יְהוָה עַל-פָּנָיו, וַיִּקְרָא, יְהוָה יְהוָה, אֵל רַחוּם וְחַנּוּן–אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם, וְרַב-חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת נֹצֵר חֶסֶד לָאֲלָפִים, נֹשֵׂא עָוֺן וָפֶשַׁע וְחַטָּאָה; וְנַקֵּה, לֹא יְנַקֶּה–פֹּקֵד עֲוֺן אָבוֹת עַל-בָּנִים וְעַל-בְּנֵי בָנִים, עַל-שִׁלֵּשִׁים וְעַל-רִבֵּעִים.
And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed: ‘The LORD, the LORD, God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; keeping mercy unto the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and unto the fourth generation.’