Psalm 137-139

English Standard Version

How Shall We Sing the Lord's Song?

137 By the waters of Babylon,
    there we sat down and wept,
    when we remembered Zion.
²On the willows^[a] there
    we hung up our lyres.
³For there our captors
    required of us songs,
and our tormentors, mirth, saying,
    “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

⁴^(A)How shall we sing the Lord's song
    in a foreign land?
⁵If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
    ^(B)let my right hand forget its skill!
⁶Let my ^(C)tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,
    if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
    above my highest joy!

⁷Remember, O Lord, against the ^(D)Edomites
    ^(E)the day of Jerusalem,
how they said, ^(F)“Lay it bare, lay it bare,
    down to its foundations!”
⁸O daughter of Babylon, ^(G)doomed to be destroyed,
    blessed shall he be who ^(H)repays you
    with what you have done to us!
⁹Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones
    and ^(I)dashes them against the rock!

Give Thanks to the Lord

Of David.

138 ^(J)I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;
    before ^(K)the gods I sing your praise;
²I bow down ^(L)toward your ^(M)holy temple
    and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,
    for you have exalted above all things
    your name and your word.^[b]
³On the day I called, you answered me;
    my strength of soul you increased.^[c]

⁴^(N)All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O Lord,
    for they have heard the words of your mouth,
⁵and they shall sing of ^(O)the ways of the Lord,
    for great is the glory of the Lord.
⁶^(P)For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly,
    but the haughty he knows from afar.

⁷^(Q)Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
    you ^(R)preserve my life;
you ^(S)stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies,
    and your ^(T)right hand delivers me.
⁸The Lord will ^(U)fulfill his purpose for me;
    ^(V)your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.
    Do not forsake ^(W)the work of your hands.

Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

139 O Lord, you have ^(X)searched me and known me!
²You ^(Y)know when I sit down and when I rise up;
    you ^(Z)discern my thoughts from afar.
³You search out my path and my lying down
    and are acquainted with all my ways.
⁴Even before a word is on my tongue,
    behold, O Lord, ^(AA)you know it altogether.
⁵You ^(AB)hem me in, behind and before,
    and ^(AC)lay your hand upon me.
⁶^(AD)Such knowledge is ^(AE)too wonderful for me;
    it is high; I cannot attain it.

⁷^(AF)Where shall I go from your Spirit?
    Or where ^(AG)shall I flee from your presence?
⁸^(AH)If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
    ^(AI)If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
⁹If I take the wings of the morning
    and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
¹⁰even there your hand shall ^(AJ)lead me,
    and your right hand shall hold me.
¹¹If I say, ^(AK)“Surely the darkness shall cover me,
    and the light about me be night,”
¹²^(AL)even the darkness is not dark to you;
    the night is bright as the day,
    for darkness is as light with you.

¹³For you ^(AM)formed my inward parts;
    you ^(AN)knitted me together in my mother's womb.
¹⁴I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.^[d]
^(AO)Wonderful are your works;
    my soul knows it very well.
¹⁵^(AP)My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
    intricately woven in ^(AQ)the depths of the earth.
¹⁶Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your ^(AR)book were written, every one of them,
    the days that were formed for me,
    when as yet there was none of them.

¹⁷How precious to me are your ^(AS)thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸^(AT)If I would count them, they are more than ^(AU)the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.

¹⁹Oh that you would ^(AV)slay the wicked, O God!
    O ^(AW)men of blood, ^(AX)depart from me!
²⁰They ^(AY)speak against you with malicious intent;
    your enemies ^(AZ)take your name in vain.^[e]
²¹^(BA)Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
    And do I not ^(BB)loathe those who ^(BC)rise up against you?
²²I hate them with complete hatred;
    I count them my enemies.

²³Search me, O God, and know my heart!
^(BD)Try me and know my thoughts!^[f]
²⁴And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and ^(BE)lead me in ^(BF)the way everlasting!^[g]

Footnotes

Psalm 137:2 Or poplars
Psalm 138:2 Or you have exalted your word above all your name
Psalm 138:3 Hebrew you made me bold in my soul with strength
Psalm 139:14 Or for I am fearfully set apart
Psalm 139:20 Hebrew lacks your name
Psalm 139:23 Or cares
Psalm 139:24 Or in the ancient way (compare Jeremiah 6:16)

2 Corinthians 11:16-33

English Standard Version

Paul's Sufferings as an Apostle

¹⁶I repeat, ^(A)let no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. ¹⁷What I am saying ^(B)with this boastful confidence, ^(C)I say not as the Lord would^[a] but as a fool. ¹⁸Since ^(D)many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. ¹⁹For you gladly bear with fools, ^(E)being wise yourselves! ²⁰For you bear it if someone ^(F)makes slaves of you, or ^(G)devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or ^(H)strikes you in the face. ²¹To my shame, I must say, ^(I)we were too weak for that!

But whatever anyone else dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that. ²²Are they Hebrews? ^(J)So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. ²³Are they ^(K)servants of Christ? ^(L)I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, ^(M)far more imprisonments, ^(N)with countless beatings, and ^(O)often near death. ²⁴Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the ^(P)forty lashes less one. ²⁵Three times I was ^(Q)beaten with rods. ^(R)Once I was stoned. Three times I ^(S)was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; ²⁶on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, ^(T)danger from my own people, ^(U)danger from Gentiles, ^(V)danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; ²⁷^(W)in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, ^(X)in hunger and thirst, often without food,^[b] in cold and exposure. ²⁸And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for ^(Y)all the churches. ²⁹^(Z)Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?

³⁰^(AA)If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. ³¹^(AB)The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, ^(AC)he who is blessed forever, ^(AD)knows that I am not lying. ³²At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas ^(AE)was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, ³³^(AF)but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.