Deuteronomy β Chapter 33
And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death.
And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.
Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words.
Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.
And he was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together.
Let Reuben live, and not die; and let not his men be few.
And this is the blessing of Judah: and he said, Hear, LORD, the voice of Judah, and bring him unto his people: let his hands be sufficient for him; and be thou an help to him from his enemies.
And of Levi he said, Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy holy one, whom thou didst prove at Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah;
Who said unto his father and to his mother, I have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his own children: for they have observed thy word, and kept thy covenant.
They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law: they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thine altar.
Bless, LORD, his substance, and accept the work of his hands: smite through the loins of them that rise against him, and of them that hate him, that they rise not again.
And of Benjamin he said, The beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by him; and the LORD shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders.
And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the LORD be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath,
And for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon,
And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills,
And for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren.
His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.
And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out; and, Issachar, in thy tents.
They shall call the people unto the mountain; there they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness: for they shall suck of the abundance of the seas, and of treasures hid in the sand.
And of Gad he said, Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad: he dwelleth as a lion, and teareth the arm with the crown of the head.
And he provided the first part for himself, because there, in a portion of the lawgiver, was he seated; and he came with the heads of the people, he executed the justice of the LORD, and his judgments with Israel.
And of Dan he said, Dan is a lionβs whelp: he shall leap from Bashan.
And of Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, satisfied with favour, and full with the blessing of the LORD: possess thou the west and the south.
And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil.
Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.
There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky.
The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them.
Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew.
Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.
β¦ Connected Across Traditions
The Golden Rule
Hadith (An-Nawawi 13)
βNone of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.β
Leviticus 19:18
βLove your neighbor as yourself.β
Mahabharata 5.1517
βOne should never do to another what one regards as injurious to oneself.β
Dhammapada 10:1
βAll tremble at violence; all fear death. Putting oneself in the place of another, one should not kill nor cause another to kill.β
Impermanence & Letting Go
Dhammapada 20:277
βAll conditioned things are impermanent. When one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering.β
Tao Te Ching 76
βA man is born gentle and weak. At his death he is hard and stiff. The soft and yielding is the disciple of life.β
Bhagavad Gita 2:22
βAs a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.β
Quran 55:26-27
βEveryone upon the earth will perish, and there will remain the Face of your Lord, Owner of Majesty and Honor.β
The Path to Wisdom
Proverbs 4:7
βWisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.β
Dhammapada 20:282
βWisdom springs from meditation; without meditation wisdom wanes.β
Analects 2:11
βIf you study the past and use it to understand the present, you are worthy of being a teacher.β
Tao Te Ching 33
βKnowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom.β
Good vs Evil / Light vs Darkness
Yasna 30:3
βNow the two primal Spirits, who reveal themselves as Twins, are the Better and the Bad, in thought and word and action.β
Dhammapada 1:1-2
βMind is the forerunner of all actions. If one speaks or acts with a pure mind, happiness follows like a shadow.β
Genesis 1:3
βAnd God said, Let there be light: and there was light.β
Bhagavad Gita 16:21
βThere are three gates to self-destructive hell: lust, anger, and greed. Therefore, one must learn to give these up.β