Faith: prayers in Judaism

Texts from their published editions. Guidance on what this tradition does at this moment is on the occasion page, and background on the tradition is at /traditions/jewish.

Texts from their published editions

Each text below was transcribed from the edition named under it and checked twice, independently, against that edition. Where the two transcriptions disagreed by even one character, the text is not shown here. That is a claim about wording only: these are not selected or endorsed for any particular situation, and nobody credentialed in the tradition has signed them. Older spelling is kept as the edition prints it.

Psalm 130 (JPS 1917)

A penitential Song of Ascents calling out from the depths. Recited in Jewish practice at times of crisis and serious illness, added to the daily service on the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in the Ashkenazi rite, and said communally for a person in danger.

English · The Holy Scriptures According to the Masoretic Text (JPS), 1917

Out of the depths have I called Thee, O LORD.

Lord, hearken unto my voice;

Let Thine ears be attentive

To the voice of my supplications.

If Thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities,

O Lord, who could stand?

For with Thee there is forgiveness,

That Thou mayest be feared.

I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait,

And in His word do I hope.

My soul waiteth for the Lord,

More than watchmen for the morning;

Yea, more than watchmen for the morning.

O Israel, hope in the LORD;

For with the LORD there is mercy,

And with Him is plenteous redemption.

And He will redeem Israel

From all his iniquities.

Jewish Publication Society of America, 1917. Published 1917, before 1929, US public domain. Source

The Shema, first paragraph (JPS 1917)

The Shema, first paragraph (JPS 1917), as it appears in the edition cited below.

English · The Holy Scriptures According to the Masoretic Text (JPS), 1917

HEAR, O ISRAEL: THE LORD OUR GOD, THE LORD IS ONE.

And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon thy heart;

and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes.

And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates.

Jewish Publication Society of America, 1917. Published 1917, before 1929, US public domain. Source

Wording and scope vary between editions and between communities, so this entry is tied to one named edition and makes no claim about which form is right in a given setting.

Nothing here has been signed by a reviewer credentialed in this tradition. When that happens, reviewed prayers appear above these, and these stay where they are, as an anthology. How that works.