A Prayer for Israel

¹“Have mercy upon us, O Lord, the God of all.

Make all the nations fear you.

²Punish the foreign nations,

and let them see your power.

³Use them to show your glory to us,

just as you have used us to show your holiness to them.

⁴Let them know, as we have known,

that there is no God besides you, O Lord.

⁵Give new signs and work other miracles,

showing the glory of your hand and right arm.

⁶Stir up your anger and pour out your wrath.

Destroy the adversary and crush the enemy.

⁷Remember the time appointed for this, and make it come quickly.

Let people recount your mighty deeds.

⁸Let those who escape be consumed in fiery wrath,

and let those who oppress your people be destroyed.

⁹Crush the heads of hostile rulers

who say, “We are the only ones who matter.”

¹⁰Gather all the tribes of Jacob,

and give them their inheritance as you did at the beginning.

¹¹Show mercy to the people called by your name,

on Israel, whom you have made your firstborn.

¹²Have pity on the city of your sanctuary,

Jerusalem, the place where you reside.

¹³Fill Zion with praise for your wonderful deeds,

and fill your Temple with your glory.

¹⁴Acknowledge those you created in the beginning,

and fulfill the prophecies spoken in your name.

¹⁵Reward those who wait for you,

and show that your prophets can be trusted.

¹⁶Respond to the prayers of your servants, O Lord,

in the manner that Aaron blessed your people.

¹⁷Then everyone on earth will know

that you are the Lord, the eternal God.”

The Need for Discretion

¹⁸The stomach will accept any food,

yet one food is better than another.

¹⁹As the palate recognizes the type of wild animal by the flavor of the meat,

so the intelligent mind discerns lies.

²⁰Those with perverse minds will cause grief,

but a person with experience will pay them back.

²¹A woman will accept any man as a husband,

but a man will prefer one girl over another.

²²A woman’s beauty lights up a man’s face,

and there is nothing he desires more.

²³If her words convey kindness and humility,

her husband is the happiest of men.

²⁴He who finds a good wife finds his best possession.

She is a helper fit for him and a pillar of support.

²⁵Where there is no fence,

the property will be plundered;

where there is no wife,

a man will become a wandering fugitive.

²⁶Who would trust a fleet-footed bandit

that goes from city to city?

²⁷So it is with the man who has no home

and who lodges wherever the night finds him.