Judaism
Psalms 84
Text
For the Leader; upon the Gittith. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
How lovely are Thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts!
My soul yearneth, yea, even pineth for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh sing for joy unto the living God.
Yea, the sparrow hath found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, Where she may lay her young; Thine altars, O LORD of hosts, My King, and my God—
Happy are they that dwell in Thy house, they are ever praising Thee. Selah
Happy is the man whose strength is in Thee; in whose heart are the highways.
Passing through the valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; yea, the early rain clotheth it with blessings.
They go from strength to strength, every one of them appeareth before God in Zion.
O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah
Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of Thine anointed.
For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand; I had rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
For the LORD God is a sun and a shield; the LORD giveth grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.
O LORD of hosts, happy is the man that trusteth in Thee.
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.”
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!”