Judaism
Psalms 56
Text
For the Leader; upon Jonath-elem-rehokim. [A Psalm] of David; Michtam; when the Philistines took him in Gath. .
Be gracious unto me, O God, for man would swallow me up; All the day he fighting oppresseth me.
They that lie in wait for me would swallow me up all the day; For they are many that fight against me, O Most High,
In the day that I am afraid, I will put my trust in Thee.
In God—I will praise His word— In God do I trust, I will not be afraid; What can flesh do unto me?
All the day they trouble mine affairs; All their thoughts are against me for evil.
They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, They mark my steps; According as they have waited for my soul.
Because of iniquity cast them out; In anger bring down the peoples, O God.
Thou has counted my wanderings; Put Thou my tears into Thy bottle; Are they not in Thy book?
Then shall mine enemies turn back in the day that I call; This I know, that God is for me.
In God—I will praise His word— In the LORD—I will praise His word—
In God do I trust, I will not be afraid; What can man do unto me?
Thy vows are upon me, O God; I will render thank-offerings unto Thee.
For thou hast delivered my soul from death; Hast Thou not delivered my feet from stumbling? That I may walk before God in the light of the living?
Text: The Holy Scriptures, Jewish Publication Society (1917), public domain, via Sefaria.
✦ Connected Across Traditions
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.”
Good vs Evil / Light vs Darkness
Yasna 30:3
“Now the two primal Spirits, who reveal themselves as Twins, are the Better and the Bad, in thought and word and action.”
John 1:5
“And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”
Dhammapada 2 (trans. Bhikkhu Sujato)
“Intention is the leader of things; intention is first, they’re made by intention. If with pure intent you speak or act, happiness follows you like a shadow that never leaves.”
Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 16 (trans. Edwin Arnold)
“The Doors of Hell Are threefold, whereby men to ruin pass, The door of Lust, the door of Wrath, the door Of Avarice. Let a man shun those three!”