Prayer for Sleep
The Christian tradition has always ended the day in prayer. The last act before sleep, in every monastic rule and in the habit of countless ordinary households, is to commend one's spirit into the hands of God. The Church's night office, Compline, closes with the words of Christ on the Cross: "Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit." In the Maronite tradition, the night prayer is called Sutoro, a Syriac word meaning "protection," and its central psalm, Psalm 91, promises rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
What follows is a collection of the prayers most often prayed at bedtime, with their full texts, the Scripture that nourishes them, and the Maronite night office that has been prayed in the monasteries of Lebanon for over a thousand years.
The Guardian Angel Prayer
The simplest and most beloved bedtime prayer in the Catholic tradition. Many Catholics learned it as children and pray it every night for a lifetime.
Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God's love commits me here, ever this night be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.
The prayer asks for nothing complicated. It asks for presence. The guardian angel tradition is rooted in Psalm 91:11: "For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways."
Compline: The Church's Night Prayer
Compline is the final hour of the Liturgy of the Hours, the Church's daily cycle of prayer. It is prayed at the very end of the day, after the last work is done, before sleep. Its opening and closing phrases have been prayed nightly by monks, nuns, and laity for over fifteen centuries.
The Lord grant us a quiet night and a perfect end. Amen.
The heart of Compline is the responsory, echoing Christ's last words on the Cross:
Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.
Compline closes with the Nunc Dimittis, the prayer of the aged Simeon when he held the infant Christ in the Temple and knew his waiting was over:
Lord, now you let your servant go in peace; your word has been fulfilled. My own eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared in the sight of every people; a light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people Israel.
The Compline antiphon, prayed around the Nunc Dimittis, names the theology of sleep in a single sentence:
Save us, Lord, while we are awake; protect us while we sleep; that we may keep watch with Christ and rest with him in peace.
The closing prayer asks God to make the day's work eternal:
Lord, give our bodies restful sleep; and let the work we have done today be sown for an eternal harvest.
The Maronite Sutoro (Night Office)
In the Maronite liturgical tradition, night prayer is called Sutoro, from the Syriac word for "protection." It is prayed at the close of the day, around nine in the evening, and it centers on Psalm 91, the psalm of God's sheltering presence in the night.
The Sutoro exists in seven versions, one for each night of the week. Each version includes a doxology, Psalm 91, a Hoosoyo (prayer of forgiveness with incense), and the concluding act of commending one's spirit to God. It ends not with the Trisagion, as the other hours do, but with the Praise of the Cherubim, unique to this office.
The faithful pray:
We commend our spirits into your hands, O Lord, tonight and all the days of our lives. To you we abandon our bodies, thoughts, feelings, and all that we are.
And the priest asks God to "guard us from the snares of the evil one by the power of your holy angels" and to "enlighten us this night by the column of fire and the light of your truth."
The Sutoro is the prayer Saint Charbel prayed every night of his twenty-three years in the hermitage at Annaya. The monks of the Lebanese Maronite Order still pray it. Its core psalm, Psalm 91, is the same psalm that Jesus quoted when Satan tempted him in the desert (Matthew 4:6). The Maronite tradition chose this psalm for the night office because the night is the hour when fear is closest and the need for God's protection most immediate.
Psalm 91
The psalm of the night. The psalm of the Sutoro. The psalm of protection.
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."
Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.
For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
"You will not fear the terror of night." This is the verse that gave the Sutoro its name. Whoever prays this psalm at nightfall is placing themselves under the shelter of God before the darkness comes.
"Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep"
The oldest English-language bedtime prayer, first published in the New England Primer of 1737. Generations of children have grown up with this prayer, and many adults still pray it.
Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. Amen.
A modern variant, sometimes taught to young children, softens the final lines:
Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. May angels watch me through the night, and wake me with the morning light. Amen.
Scripture for Sleep
The Bible speaks of sleep as a gift, a sign of trust, and a letting-go. The verses below are those most often prayed or read in the minutes before rest.
Psalm 4:8
"In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety."
Psalm 127:2
"In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat, for he grants sleep to those he loves."
Proverbs 3:24
"When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet."
Matthew 11:28
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."
Psalm 91:1-2
"Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.'"
How to Pray Before Sleep
No special method is needed. Monks who have prayed the full Sutoro or Compline for decades do the same thing as a parent praying by a child's bed: they say the words, they breathe, they let go. A few practical notes from the tradition.
Choose one prayer and stay with it. The Guardian Angel prayer, a psalm, or the Sutoro's closing line ("We commend our spirits into your hands") are each enough for a lifetime.
Pray the same prayer every night. Repetition is not laziness. It is the rhythm of the monastic tradition. The same words, in the same order, build a groove in the heart that becomes automatic when the mind is too tired for anything else.
Breathe slowly while you pray. The Desert Fathers matched their prayers to their breath. The body follows the rhythm, and the rhythm draws the mind down toward rest.
Darkness is not the enemy. The Sutoro does not deny that the night can be frightening. It meets the fear with a psalm that says, "You will not fear the terror of night." The prayer does not eliminate the darkness. It places God between you and it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good prayer to say before bed?
The Guardian Angel prayer ("Angel of God, my guardian dear"), Compline's "Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit," or Psalm 4:8 ("In peace I will lie down and sleep") are all prayed widely at bedtime. In the Maronite tradition, the Sutoro night office closes the day with Psalm 91 and the prayer of commending one's spirit to God.
What psalm is good for sleep?
Psalm 91. It promises God's protection through the night: "You will not fear the terror of night." The Maronite night office, Sutoro, is built around it. Psalm 4 ("In peace I will lie down and sleep") and Psalm 127 ("He grants sleep to those he loves") are also traditional.
What is the Maronite night prayer?
The Sutoro, Syriac for "protection." Prayed at the close of the day, it centers on Psalm 91 and ends with the faithful commending their bodies, thoughts, and spirits into God's hands. It exists in seven versions, one for each night of the week, and is prayed daily in Maronite monasteries.
What Bible verse helps you sleep?
Psalm 127:2: "He grants sleep to those he loves." Psalm 4:8: "In peace I will lie down and sleep." Proverbs 3:24: "When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet." Matthew 11:28: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."
What is Compline?
Compline is the final hour of the Liturgy of the Hours, the Church's daily cycle of prayer. It is prayed at the very end of the day, before sleep. It includes Psalm 91, the responsory "Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit," the Nunc Dimittis, and the closing blessing "The Lord grant us a quiet night and a perfect end."
See also: Prayer for Anxiety. Novena to Saint Charbel. The Maronite Rosary. Saint Charbel Makhlouf. The Maronite Liturgical Calendar.