SiddurimSo you ask, what is the most read book in the world?  It is (drum roll)…..The Bible.

Recently while attending a prayer service, I found myself mesmerized by the nouns, verbs and descriptive words used page after page in my prayer book.  For some reason that day, I seemed lost in the words rather than the meaning.  As I dissected sentences, bypassing Old English syntax, I realized the word composition was exquisite.  Could it be that the words of the Bible, words that have stood the test of time, exemplified the best of “How To Write”?

Not wanting to rely only on one religion, I scanned the net to review Christian, Jewish and Islamic prayers.  Much to my amazement, all the prayers I read truly followed writing best practices.  Here’s what I found:

  • Prayers generally are written in the present tense.
  • Most prayers use active verbs.
  • Prayers engage readers with strong calls to action.
  • Prayers tell stories.

Ah ha…Cowabunga…Shizam.  Everything I ever needed to know about writing I could have learned in Sunday school!  I thought I needed a Journalism Degree and decades of business writing practice to master writing principles.  Who’d a thunk it?  Check out the verses below and join me in shouting out a Hallelujah to the writing in the Bible!

Excepts from Religious Prayers For Peace

Christianity:  I say to you love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

Islam: If the enemy inclines toward peace, do thou also incline toward peace, and trust in God, for the Lord is the one that heareth and knoweth all things.

Judaism:  Let love and justice flow like a mighty stream, let peace fill the earth as the waters fill the sea.

Now look at some of the verbs: love, do, bless, pray, inclines, trust, flow and fill.  They follow practices that simplify writing. These prayer verbs:

Share, in the comments section below, your favorite writing, from any of the top 10 most read books, or your favorite prayer that follows writing best practices.