Judaism
Psalms 116
Text
I love that the LORD should hear my voice and my supplications.
Because He hath inclined His ear unto me, Therefore will I call upon Him all my days.
The cords of death compassed me, And the straits of the nether-world got hold upon me; I found trouble and sorrow.
But I called upon the name of the LORD: 'I beseech thee, O LORD, deliver my soul.'
Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; Yea, our God is compassionate.
The LORD preserveth the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me.
Return, O my soul, unto Thy rest; For the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee.
For thou hast delivered my soul from death, Mine eyes from tears, And my feet from stumbling.
I shall walk before the LORD In the lands of the living.
I trusted even when I spoke: 'I am greatly afflicted.'
I said in my haste: 'All men are liars.'
How can I repay unto the LORD All His bountiful dealings toward me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation, And call upon the name of the LORD.
My vows will I pay unto the LORD, Yea, in the presence of all His people.
Precious in the sight of the LORD Is the death of His saints.
I beseech Thee, O LORD, for I am Thy servant; I am Thy servant, the son of Thy handmaid; Thou hast loosed my bands.
I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, And will call upon the name of the LORD.
I will pay my vows unto the LORD, Yea, in the presence of all His people;
In the courts of the LORD’S house, In the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Hallelujah.
Text: The Holy Scriptures, Jewish Publication Society (1917), public domain, via Sefaria.
✦ Connected Across Traditions
The Golden Rule
Matthew 7:12
“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.”
Hadith (An-Nawawi 13)
“None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.”
Mahabharata 5.1517
“One should never do to another what one regards as injurious to oneself.”
Dhammapada 129 (trans. Bhikkhu Sujato)
“All tremble at the rod, all fear death. Treating others like oneself, neither kill nor incite to kill.”
Divine Compassion & Mercy
Quran 1:1
“In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.”
Luke 6:36
“Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.”
Snp 1.8 (trans. Bhikkhu Sujato)
“Even as a mother would protect with her life her child, her only child, so too for all creatures unfold a boundless heart.”
Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 1
“ik oankaar sat naam: one Creator, whose Name is Truth, beyond fear and enmity.”
Impermanence & Letting Go
Dhammapada 20:277 (trans. F. Max Müller)
“‘All created things perish,’ he who knows and sees this becomes passive in pain; this is the way to purity.”
Tao Te Ching 76 (trans. James Legge)
“Man at his birth is supple and weak; at his death, firm and strong. (So it is with) all things. Trees and plants, in their early growth, are soft and brittle; at their death, dry and withered.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”
Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2 (trans. Edwin Arnold)
“Nay, but as when one layeth His worn-out robes away, And taking new ones, sayeth, "These will I wear to-day!" So putteth by the spirit Lightly its garb of flesh, And passeth to inherit A residence afresh.”