Judaism
Psalms 7
Text
Shiggaion of David, which he sang unto the LORD, concerning Cush a Benjamite.
O LORD my God, in Thee have I taken refuge; Save me from all them that pursue me, and deliver me;
Lest he tear my soul like a lion, Rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.
O LORD my God, if I have done this; If there be iniquity in my hands;
If I have requited him that did evil unto me, Or spoiled mine adversary unto emptiness;
Let the enemy pursue my soul, and overtake it, And tread my life down to the earth; Yea, let him lay my glory in the dust. Selah
Arise, O LORD, in Thine anger, Lift up Thyself in indignation against mine adversaries; Yea, awake for me at the judgment which Thou hast commanded.
And let the congregation of the peoples compass Thee about, And over them return Thou on high.
O LORD, who ministerest judgment to the peoples, Judge me, O LORD, According to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me.
Oh that a full measure of evil might come upon the wicked, And that Thou wouldest establish the righteous; For the righteous God trieth the heart and reins.
My shield is with God, Who saveth the upright in heart.
God is a righteous judge, Yea, a God that hath indignation every day:
If a man turn not, He will whet His sword, He hath bent His bow, and made it ready;
He hath also prepared for him the weapons of death, Yea, His arrows which He made sharp.
Behold, he travaileth with iniquity; Yea, he conceiveth mischief, and bringeth forth falsehood.
He hath digged a pit, and hollowed it, And is fallen into the ditch which he made.
His mischief shall return upon his own head, And his violence shall come down upon his own pate.
I will give thanks unto the LORD according to His righteousness; And will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.
Text: The Holy Scriptures, Jewish Publication Society (1917), public domain, via Sefaria.
✦ Connected Across Traditions
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!”