A Prayer for Israel
1 O Lord God of the universe, look upon us and have mercy. 2 Make every nation stand in fear of you. 3 Take action against the foreign nations, and let them witness your power! 4 You have used us to show them how holy you are; now use them to show us how great you are. 5 Let them learn, as we have learned, that there is no God, O Lord, but you. 6 Give new signs, perform new miracles; show us your glorious strength! 7-9 Bring on that appointed time when everyone can talk about the great things you do. Pour out your furious, flaming anger, and let none of our enemies survive. Destroy those who have oppressed your people. 10 Crush all those enemy rulers who think they are the only people in the world who matter! 11 Gather the tribes of Israel together again, and give them back their land as you gave it to them long ago. 12 Lord, have mercy on Israel, the people who are known by your name, whom you called your first-born son. 13 Take pity on Jerusalem, your holy city, where you chose to stay. 14 Fill your Temple on Mount Zion with your glory and with hymns of praise. 15 Testify for your people, whom you created in the beginning; fulfill the prophecies that have been spoken in your name. 16 Reward those who have put their faith in you, and vindicate your prophets. 17 You have always been gracious to your people; listen to your servants as we pray. Then everyone on earth will recognize that you are the Lord, the God of the ages.
Choosing a Wife
18 Any kind of food can be eaten, but some foods are better than others. 19 And just as the tongue can distinguish the flavors of different kinds of meat, so a sharp mind can detect lies. 20 A person with a warped mind causes trouble, but an experienced person knows how to pay it back.
21 A woman has to take any man as a husband, but a man must choose his wife carefully. 22 A woman's beauty makes a man happy; there is no fairer sight for the human eye to see. 23 If the woman is kind and gentle in her speech, her husband is the most fortunate of men. 24 When a man marries, he gets the finest thing he will ever have—a wife to help and encourage him.
25 If property is not fenced in, thieves will wander in and help themselves. And if a man has no wife, he is a sighing wanderer; 26 people have no more trust in a homeless person who sleeps in a different place every night than they have in a wandering thief who goes from town to town.
1 Have mercy upon us, O Lord God of all, and behold us:
2 And send thy fear upon all the nations that seek not after thee.
3 Lift up thy hand against the strange nations, and let them see thy power.
4 As thou wast sanctified in us before them: so be thou magnified among them before us.
5 And let them know thee, as we have known thee, that there is no God but only thou, O God.
6 Shew new signs, and make other strange wonders: glorify thy hand and thy right arm, that they may set forth thy wondrous works.
7 Raise up indignation, and pour out wrath: take away the adversary, and destroy the enemy.
8 Make the time short, remember the covenant, and let them declare thy wonderful works.
9 Let him that escapeth be consumed by the rage of the fire; and let them perish that oppress the people.
10 Smite in sunder the heads of the rulers of the heathen, that say, There is none other but we.
11 Gather all the tribes of Jacob together, and inherit thou them, as from the beginning.
12 O Lord, have mercy upon the people that is called by thy name, and upon Israel, whom thou hast named thy firstborn.
13 O be merciful unto Jerusalem, thy holy city, the place of thy rest.
14 Fill Sion with thine unspeakable oracles, and thy people with thy glory:
15 Give testimony unto those that thou hast possessed from the beginning, and raise up prophets that have been in thy name.
16 Reward them that wait for thee, and let thy prophets be found faithful.
17 O Lord, hear the prayer of thy servants, according to the blessing of Aaron over thy people, that all they which dwell upon the earth may know that thou art the Lord, the eternal God.
18 The belly devoureth all meats, yet is one meat better than another.
19 As the palate tasteth divers kinds of venison: so doth an heart of understanding false speeches.
20 A froward heart causeth heaviness: but a man of experience will recompense him.
21 A woman will receive every man, yet is one daughter better than another.
22 The beauty of a woman cheereth the countenance, and a man loveth nothing better.
23 If there be kindness, meekness, and comfort, in her tongue, then is not her husband like other men.
24 He that getteth a wife beginneth a possession, a help like unto himself, and a pillar of rest.
25 Where no hedge is, there the possession is spoiled: and he that hath no wife will wander up and down mourning.
26 Who will trust a thief well appointed, that skippeth from city to city? so who will believe a man that hath no house, and lodgeth wheresoever the night taketh him?