Old/New Testament
Psalm 137
Lament of the Exiles
1 By the rivers of Babylon—
there we sat down and wept
when we remembered Zion.(A)
2 There we hung up our lyres
on the poplar trees,(B)
3 for our captors there asked us for songs,
and our tormentors, for rejoicing:
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”(C)
4 How can we sing the Lord’s song
on foreign soil?(D)
5 If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill.(E)
6 May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not exalt Jerusalem as my greatest joy!(F)
7 Remember, Lord, what the Edomites said
that day[a] at Jerusalem:
“Destroy it! Destroy it
down to its foundations!” (G)
8 Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is the one who pays you back
what you have done to us.(H)
9 Happy is he who takes your little ones
and dashes them against the rocks.(I)
Psalm 138
A Thankful Heart
Of David.
1 I will give you thanks with all my heart;(J)
I will sing your praise before the heavenly beings.[b](K)
2 I will bow down toward your holy temple
and give thanks to your name
for your constant love and truth.
You have exalted your name
and your promise above everything else.[c](L)
3 On the day I called, you answered me;
you increased strength within me.[d](M)
4 All the kings on earth will give you thanks, Lord,
when they hear what you have promised.[e](N)
5 They will sing of the Lord’s ways,
for the Lord’s glory is great.(O)
6 Though the Lord is exalted,
he takes note of the humble;
but he knows the haughty from a distance.(P)
7 If I walk into the thick of danger,
you will preserve my life
from the anger of my enemies.(Q)
You will extend your hand;
your right hand will save me.(R)
8 The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me.(S)
Lord, your faithful love endures forever;
do not abandon the work of your hands.(T)
Psalm 139
The All-Knowing, Ever-Present God
For the choir director. A psalm of David.
1 Lord, you have searched me and known me.(U)
2 You know when I sit down and when I stand up;
you understand my thoughts from far away.(V)
3 You observe my travels and my rest;
you are aware of all my ways.(W)
4 Before a word is on my tongue,
you know all about it, Lord.(X)
5 You have encircled me;
you have placed your hand on me.(Y)
6 This wondrous knowledge is beyond me.
It is lofty; I am unable to reach it.(Z)
7 Where can I go to escape your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?(AA)
8 If I go up to heaven, you are there;(AB)
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.(AC)
9 If I fly on the wings of the dawn
and settle down on the western horizon,[f]
10 even there your hand will lead me;
your right hand will hold on to me.(AD)
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me,
and the light around me will be night”(AE)—
12 even the darkness is not dark to you.
The night shines like the day;
darkness and light are alike to you.(AF)
13 For it was you who created my inward parts;[g]
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.(AG)
14 I will praise you
because I have been remarkably and wondrously made.[h][i]
Your works are wondrous,
and I know this very well.(AH)
15 My bones were not hidden from you
when I was made in secret,
when I was formed in the depths of the earth.(AI)
16 Your eyes saw me when I was formless;
all my days were written in your book and planned
before a single one of them began.(AJ)
17 God, how precious[j] your thoughts are to me;
how vast their sum is!
18 If I counted them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand;(AK)
when I wake up,[k] I am still with you.(AL)
19 God, if only you would kill the wicked—
you bloodthirsty men, stay away from me(AM)—
20 who invoke you deceitfully.
Your enemies swear by you falsely.(AN)
21 Lord, don’t I hate those who hate you,
and detest those who rebel against you?
22 I hate them with extreme hatred;
I consider them my enemies.(AO)
Love: The Superior Way
13 If I speak human or angelic tongues[a] but do not have love,(A) I am a noisy gong(B) or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy(C) and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains(D) but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give away all my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to boast[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient,(E) love is kind. Love does not envy,(F) is not boastful, is not arrogant,(G) 5 is not rude, is not self-seeking,(H) is not irritable,(I) and does not keep a record of wrongs. 6 Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth.(J) 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures(K) all things.
8 Love never ends.(L) But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will come to an end. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put aside childish things. 12 For now we see only a reflection[c] as in a mirror, but then face to face.(M) Now I know in part, but then I will know fully,(N) as I am fully known.(O) 13 Now these three remain: faith, hope,(P) and love—but the greatest of these is love.
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