English translation or equivalent of Unetane Tokeff (title/phrase)

[hagar_972]

This is a bit of a strange question. It's for a story though, and it's not exactly google-able.

I am trying to translate - or find an English equivalent of - the name of the Hebrew Atonement Day chant, ונתנה תוקף. (On Wikipedia.) It's old and weird Hebrew, and I need a translation that will both preserve the original sense (rather than, say, using

Comments

[hagar_972]

It has pretty natural imagery and the invoked sense of Father has something more than sternness in it. That, on my standards, is postively cheery. High Holiday prayers - which were my startpoint - are about 50% lists of sins and strange death and 50% "You're very great and we're very small" so next to that, the psalm you linked to is a cheery and warm Sabbath song.

Eek, the end of the world is... not exactly what I meant. I intended not so much "Judgement Day" as "personal Judgement". (Again, my cultural context is of a religion where you'd judged for life or death every year, on a date that's equivalent to ten days after a happy holiday like Christmass, complete with a 25hr fast, 16hr prayer and a week and a half of aplogizing to anyone you may have hurt in the passing year. And that's the secular-to-standard-observant, not the orthodox+ version. This practice is so deeply ingrained that about 70% of declared seculars fast on this day, and virtually everyone to the apologies and treat them as sacred

[hagar_972]

Ah well :/. I'm afraid anything universally recognizable would be too overdone. Thanks, though!