The Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4 – 6:9)
Hear, O Israel, Adonai, our God, Adonai, is One.
Blessed be the name of his glorious majesty forever and ever.
You shall love Adonai your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall speak of them when you are sitting at home and when you go on a journey, when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be frontlets between your eyes. You shall inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Blessing for the Home (Birkat HaBayit, ברכת הבית)
Let no sorrow come through this gate.
Let no trouble come in this dwelling.
Let no fright come through this door.
Let no conflict come to this department.
Let there be blessing and peace in this place.
A Prayer at Bedtime
Praised are You, Adonai, our God, Ruler of the universe, who closes my eyes in sleep, my eyelids in slumber.
May it be Your will, Adonai, My God and the God of my ancestors, to lie me down in peace and then to raise me up in peace.
Let no disturbing thoughts upset me, no evil dreams nor troubling fantasies.
May my bed be complete and whole in Your sight.
Grant me light so that I do not sleep the sleep of death, for it is You who illumines and enlightens.
Praised are You, Adonai, whose majesty gives light to the universe.
Special Prayer for Protection at Night
In the name of Adonai the God of Israel:
May the angel Michael be at my right,
and the angel Gabriel be at my left;
and in front of me the angel Uriel,
and behind me the angel Raphael…
and above my head the Sh’khinah (Divine Presence).
Psalms, Psalm 91: Assurance of God’s Protection
He who dwells in the covert of the Most High will lodge in the shadow of the Almighty.
I shall say of the Lord [that He is] my shelter and my fortress, my God in Whom I trust.
For He will save you from the snare that traps from the devastating pestilence.
With His wing He will cover you, and under His wings you will take refuge; His truth is an encompassing shield.
You will not fear the fright of night, the arrow that flies by day;
Pestilence that prowls in darkness, destruction that ravages at noon.
A thousand will be stationed at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it will not approach you.
You will but gaze with your eyes, and you will see the annihilation of the wicked.
For you [said], “The Lord is my refuge”; the Most High you made your dwelling.
No harm will befall you, nor will a plague draw near to your tent.
For He will command His angels on your behalf to guard you in all your ways.
On [their] hands they will bear you, lest your foot stumble on a stone.
On a young lion and a cobra you will tread; you will trample the young lion and the serpent.
For he yearns for Me, and I shall rescue him; I shall fortify him because he knows My name.
He will call Me and I shall answer him; I am with him in distress; I shall rescue him and I shall honor him.
With length of days I shall satiate him, and I shall show him My salvation.
Psalms, Psalm 20: Prayer for Victory, a song of David.
May the Lord answer you on a day of distress; may the name of the God of Jacob fortify you.
May He send your aid from His sanctuary, and may He support you from Zion.
May He remember all your meal offerings and may He accept your fat burnt offerings forever.
May He give you as your heart [desires], and may He fulfill all your counsel.
Let us sing praises for your salvation, and let us assemble in the name of our God; may the Lord fulfill all your requests.
Now I know that the Lord saved His anointed; He answered him from His holy heavens; with the mighty acts of salvation from His right hand.
These trust in chariots and these in horses, but we-we mention the name of the Lord our God.
They kneel and fall, but we rise and gain strength.
Lord, save [us]; may the King answer us on the day we call.
Psalms, Psalm 90: God’s Eternity and Human Frailty, a prayer of Moses, the man of God.
O Lord, You have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.
Before the mountains were born, and You brought forth the earth and the inhabited world, and from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
You bring man to the crushing point, and You say, “Return, O sons of men.”
For a thousand years are in Your eyes like yesterday, which passed, and a watch in the night.
You carry them away as a flood; they are like a sleep; in the morning, like grass it passes away.
In the morning, it blossoms and passes away; in the evening, it is cut off and withers.
For we perish from Your wrath, and from Your anger we are dismayed.
You have placed our iniquities before You, [the sins of] our youth before the light of Your countenance.
For all our days have passed away in Your anger; we have consumed our years as a murmur.
The days of our years because of them are seventy years, and if with increase, eighty years; but their pride is toil and pain, for it passes quickly and we fly away.
Who knows the might of Your wrath, and according to Your fear is Your anger.
So teach the number of our days, so that we shall acquire a heart of wisdom.
Return, O Lord, how long? And repent about Your servants.
Satiate us in the morning with Your loving-kindness, and let us sing praises and rejoice with all our days.
Cause us to rejoice according to the days that You afflicted us, the years that we saw evil.
May Your works appear to Your servants, and Your beauty to their sons.
And may the pleasantness of the Lord our God be upon us, and the work of our hands establish for us, and the work of our hands establish it.
Psalms, Psalm 140: Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies, a song of David.
Rescue me, O Lord, from an evil man from a man of robbery You shall guard me.
Who plotted evil things in their heart; every day they gather to wage war.
They whetted their tongue like a serpent; the venom of a spider is under their lips forever.
Guard me, O Lord, from the hands of a wicked man; from a man of robbery You shall watch me, who plotted to cause my steps to slip.
Haughty men have concealed a snare for me, and [with] ropes they spread a net beside [my] path; they laid traps for me constantly.
I said to the Lord, “You are my God.” Hearken, O Lord, to the voice of my supplications.
God, O Lord, the might of my salvation; You shall protect my head on the day of battle.
O Lord, do not grant the desires of the wicked; do not let his thoughts succeed, for they are constantly haughty.
The numbers of those who surround me, may the lies of their lips cover them.
Let fiery coals descend on them; He will cast them into fire, in wars, so that they will not rise.
A slanderer will not be established on earth; a man of violence, the evil will trap him with thrust upon thrust.
I know that the Lord will perform the judgment of a poor man, the cause of the needy.
But the righteous will thank Your name; the upright will sit before You.
Psalms, Psalm 144: Prayer for Deliverance and Security, a song of David.
Blessed be the Lord, my rock,
who trains my hands for war,
and my fingers for battle;
my rock[a] and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield and he in whom I take refuge,
who subdues the peoples under him.[b]
O Lord, what is man that thou dost regard him,
or the son of man that thou dost think of him?
Man is like a breath,
his days are like a passing shadow.
Bow thy heavens, O Lord, and come down!
Touch the mountains that they smoke!
Flash forth the lightning and scatter them,
send out thy arrows and rout them!
Stretch forth thy hand from on high,
rescue me and deliver me from the many waters,
from the hand of aliens,
whose mouths speak lies,
and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
I will sing a new song to thee, O God;
upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to thee,
who givest victory to kings,
who rescuest David thy[c] servant.
Rescue me from the cruel sword,
and deliver me from the hand of aliens,
whose mouths speak lies,
and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
May our sons in their youth
be like plants full grown,
our daughters like corner pillars
cut for the structure of a palace;
may our garners be full,
providing all manner of store;
may our sheep bring forth thousands
and ten thousands in our fields;
may our cattle be heavy with young,
suffering no mischance or failure in bearing;
may there be no cry of distress in our streets!
Happy the people to whom such blessings fall!
Happy the people whose God is the Lord!
Psalms, Psalm 23: The Divine Shepherd, a song of David.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He causes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul; He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
Even when I walk in the valley of darkness, I will fear no evil for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff-they comfort me.
You set a table before me in the presence of my adversaries; You anointed my head with oil; my cup overflows.
May only goodness and kindness pursue me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for length of days.
Psalms, Psalm 1: The Two Ways
The praises of a man are that he did not follow the counsel of the wicked, neither did he stand in the way of sinners nor sit in the company of scorners.
But his desire is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be as a tree planted beside rivulets of water, which brings forth its fruit in its season, and its leaves do not wilt; and whatever he does prospers.
Not so the wicked, but [they are] like chaff that the wind drives away.
Therefore, the wicked shall not stand up in judgment, nor shall the sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish.