Judaism
Psalms 64
Text
For the Leader. A Psalm of David.
Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; preserve my life from the terror of the enemy.
Hide me from the council of evil-doers; from the tumult of the workers of iniquity;
Who have whet their tongue like a sword, and have aimed their arrow, a poisoned word;
That they may shoot in secret places at the blameless; suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not.
They encourage one another in an evil matter; they converse of laying snares secretly; they ask, who would see them.
They search out iniquities, they have accomplished a diligent search; even in the inward thought of every one, and the deep heart.
But God doth shoot at them with an arrow suddenly; thence are their wounds.
So they make their own tongue a stumbling unto themselves; all that see them shake the head.
And all men fear; and they declare the work of God, and understand His doing.
The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and shall take refuge in Him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.
Text: The Holy Scriptures, Jewish Publication Society (1917), public domain, via Sefaria.
✦ Connected Across Traditions
The Path to Wisdom
Dhammapada 20:282 (trans. Bhikkhu Sujato)
“From meditation springs wisdom, without meditation, wisdom ends.”
Analects 2:11 (trans. James Legge)
“If a man keeps cherishing his old knowledge, so as continually to be acquiring new, he may be a teacher of others.”
Tao Te Ching 33 (trans. James Legge)
“He who knows other men is discerning; he who knows himself is intelligent.”
Quran 39:9
“Are those who know equal with those who know not?”
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!”