Kabbalat Shabbat – Welcoming the Sabbath is part of the Kabbalat Shabbat service of the traditional weekday siddur. The full Hebrew text with English translation appears below; open it in the free interactive siddur to follow along.
Come, let us sing to the Lord; let us raise our voices in jubilation to the Rock of our deliverance. Let us approach Him with thanksgiving; let us raise our voices to Him in song. For the Lord is a great God, and a great King over all supernal beings; in His hands are the depths of the earth, and the heights of the mountains are His. Indeed, the sea is His, for He made it; His hands formed the dry land. Come, let us prostrate ourselves and bow down; let us bend the knee before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people that He tends, the flock under His [guiding] hand—even this very day, if you would but hearken to His voice! Do not harden your heart as at Merivah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, where your fathers tested Me; they tried Me, though they had seen My deeds. For forty years I quarrelled with that generation; and I said, they are a people of erring hearts, they do not know My ways. So I vowed in My anger that they shall not enter My resting place.
Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless His Name; proclaim His deliverance from day to day. Recount His glory among the nations, His wonders among all the peoples. For the Lord is great and highly praised; He is awesome above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are naught, but the Lord made the heavens. Majesty and splendor are before Him, might and beauty in His Sanctuary. Render to the Lord, O families of nations, render to the Lord honor and might. Render to the Lord honor due to His Name; bring an offering and come to His courtyards. Bow down to the Lord in resplendent holiness; tremble before Him, all the earth. Proclaim among the nations: “The Lord reigns”; indeed, the world is firmly established that it shall not falter; He will judge the people with righteousness. The heavens will rejoice, the earth will exult; the sea and its fullness will roar. The fields and everything therein will jubilate; then all the trees of the forest will sing. Before the Lord [they shall rejoice] for He has come, for He has come to judge the earth; He will judge the world with justice, and the nations with His truth.
When the Lord will reveal His kingship, the earth will exult; the multitudes of islands will rejoice. Clouds and dense darkness will surround Him; justice and mercy will be the foundation of His throne. Fire will go before Him and consume His foes all around. His lightnings will illuminate the world; the earth will see and tremble. The mountains will melt like wax before the Lord, before the Master of all the earth. The heavens will declare His justice, and all the nations will behold His glory. All who worship graven images, who take pride in idols, will be ashamed; all idol worshippers will prostrate themselves before Him. Zion will hear and rejoice, the towns of Judah will exult, because of Your judgments, O Lord. For You, Lord, transcend all the earth; You are exceedingly exalted above all the supernal beings. You who love the Lord, hate evil; He watches over the souls of His pious ones, He saves them from the hand of the wicked. Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous, and extol His holy Name.
Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has performed wonders; His right hand and holy arm have wrought deliverance for Him. The Lord has made known His salvation; He has revealed His justice before the eyes of the nations. He has remembered His loving-kindness and faithfulness to the House of Israel; all, from the farthest corners of the earth, witnessed the deliverance by our God. Raise your voices in jubilation to the Lord, all the earth; burst into joyous song and chanting. Sing to the Lord with a harp, with a harp and the sound of song. With trumpets and the sound of the shofar, jubilate before the King, the Lord. The sea and its fullness will roar in joy, the earth and its inhabitants. The rivers will clap their hands, the mountains will sing together. [They will rejoice] before the Lord for He has come to judge the earth; He will judge the world with justice, and the nations with righteousness.
When the Lord will reveal His kingship, the nations will tremble; the earth will quake before Him who is enthroned upon the kruvim, [before] the Lord who is in Zion, who is great and exalted above all the peoples. They will extol Your Name which is great, awesome and holy. And [they will praise] the might of the King who loves justice. You have established uprightness; You have made [the laws of] justice and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt the Lord our God, and bow down at His footstool; He is holy. Moses and Aaron among His priests, and Samuel among those who invoke His Name, would call upon the Lord and He would answer them. He would speak to them from a pillar of cloud; they observed His testimonies and the decrees which He gave them. Lord our God, You have answered them; You were a forgiving God for their sake, yet bringing retribution for their own misdeeds. Exalt the Lord our God, and bow down at His holy mountain, for the Lord our God is holy.
When Shabbat and a Festival or Chol haMoed, coincide one should continue on from this point Psalm 29
Render to the Lord, children of the mighty, render to the Lord honor and strength. Render to the Lord the honor due to His Name; bow down to the Lord in resplendent holiness. The voice of the Lord is over the waters, the God of glory thunders; the Lord is over mighty waters. The voice of the Lord resounds with might; the voice of the Lord resounds with majesty. The voice of the Lord breaks cedars; the Lord shatters the cedars of Lebanon. He makes them leap like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox. The voice of the Lord strikes flames of fire. The voice of the Lord makes the desert tremble; the Lord causes the desert of Kadesh to tremble. The voice of the Lord causes the does to calve, and strips the forests bare; and in His Sanctuary all proclaim His glory. The Lord sat [as King] at the Flood; the Lord will sit as King forever. The Lord will give strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace.
While reciting the following prayer one should focus ones eyes, or visualize in their mind, the Divine Names in the column on the left that are formed as acronyms of the words of the prayer on the right. However, one should only visualize the names on the left, but not attempt to pronounce them: style="border-spacing:0;"