Psalm 137

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!

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Footnotes

Psalm 137:2 Or poplars

Psalm 144

English Standard Version

My Rock and My Fortress

Of David.

144 Blessed be the Lord, my ^(A)rock,
    ^(B)who trains my hands for war,
    and my fingers for battle;
²he is my ^(C)steadfast love and my ^(D)fortress,
    my ^(E)stronghold and my deliverer,
my ^(F)shield and he in whom I take refuge,
    who ^(G)subdues peoples^[a] under me.

³O Lord, ^(H)what is man that you ^(I)regard him,
or the son of man that you think of him?
⁴^(J)Man is like a breath;
his days are like ^(K)a passing ^(L)shadow.

⁵^(M)Bow your heavens, O Lord, and come down!
    ^(N)Touch the mountains so that they smoke!
⁶^(O)Flash forth the lightning and scatter them;
    ^(P)send out your arrows and rout them!
⁷^(Q)Stretch out your hand from on high;
    ^(R)rescue me and deliver me from the many waters,
    from the hand ^(S)of foreigners,
⁸whose mouths speak ^(T)lies
    and whose right hand is ^(U)a right hand of falsehood.

⁹I will sing ^(V)a new song to you, O God;
    upon ^(W)a ten-stringed harp I will play to you,
¹⁰who gives victory to kings,
    who ^(X)rescues David his servant from the cruel sword.
¹¹Rescue me and deliver me
    from the hand ^(Y)of foreigners,
whose mouths speak ^(Z)lies
    and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

¹²May our sons in their youth
    be like ^(AA)plants full grown,
our daughters like ^(AB)corner pillars
    cut for the structure of a palace;
¹³^(AC)may our granaries be full,
    ^(AD)providing all kinds of produce;
may our sheep bring forth thousands
    and ten thousands in our fields;
¹⁴may our cattle be heavy with young,
    suffering no mishap or failure in bearing;^[b]
may there be no ^(AE)cry of distress in our streets!
¹⁵^(AF)Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall!
    ^(AG)Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord!

Footnotes

Psalm 144:2 Many Hebrew manuscripts, Dead Sea Scroll, Jerome, Syriac, Aquila; most Hebrew manuscripts subdues my people
Psalm 144:14 Hebrew with no breaking in or going out

Jeremiah 31:27-34

English Standard Version

²⁷^(A)“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when ^(B)I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with ^(C)the seed of man and the seed of beast. ²⁸And it shall come to pass that ^(D)as I have watched over them ^(E)to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, ^(F)so I will watch over them ^(G)to build and to plant, declares the Lord. ²⁹In those days they shall no longer say:

^(H)“‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the children's teeth are set on edge.’

³⁰^(I)But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

The New Covenant

³¹^(J)“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make ^(K)a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, ³²not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when ^(L)I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, ^(M)though I was their husband, declares the Lord. ³³^(N)For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: ^(O)I will put my law within them, and I will write it ^(P)on their hearts. ^(Q)And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ³⁴And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ ^(R)for they shall all know me, ^(S)from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For ^(T)I will forgive their iniquity, and ^(U)I will remember their sin no more.”

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Romans 11:25-36

English Standard Version

The Mystery of Israel's Salvation

²⁵^(A)Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers:^[a] ^(B)a partial hardening has come upon Israel, ^(C)until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. ²⁶And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,

^(D)“The Deliverer will come ^(E)from Zion,
he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;
²⁷“and this will be my ^(F)covenant with them
^(G)when I take away their sins.”

²⁸As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are ^(H)beloved for the sake of their forefathers. ²⁹For the gifts and ^(I)the calling of God are irrevocable. ³⁰For just as ^(J)you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, ³¹so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now^[b] receive mercy. ³²For God ^(K)has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

³³Oh, the depth of the riches and ^(L)wisdom and knowledge of God! ^(M)How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

³⁴“For ^(N)who has known the mind of the Lord,
or ^(O)who has been his counselor?”
³⁵“Or ^(P)who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”

³⁶For ^(Q)from him and through him and to him are all things. ^(R)To him be glory forever. Amen.

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Footnotes

Romans 11:25 Or brothers and sisters
Romans 11:31 Some manuscripts omit now

John 12:37-50

English Standard Version

³⁷Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, ³⁸^(A)so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

^(B)“Lord, who has believed what he heard from us,
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

³⁹Therefore they ^(C)could not believe. For again Isaiah said,

⁴⁰^(D)“He has blinded their eyes
    and ^(E)hardened their heart,
lest they see with their eyes,
    and understand with their heart, and turn,
    and I would heal them.”

⁴¹Isaiah said these things because ^(F)he saw his glory and ^(G)spoke of him. ⁴²Nevertheless, ^(H)many even of the authorities believed in him, but ^(I)for fear of the Pharisees they did not ^(J)confess it, so that they would not be ^(K)put out of the synagogue; ⁴³^(L)for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

Jesus Came to Save the World

⁴⁴And Jesus cried out and said, ^(M)“Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but ^(N)in him who sent me. ⁴⁵And ^(O)whoever ^(P)sees me sees him who sent me. ⁴⁶^(Q)I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. ⁴⁷If anyone ^(R)hears my words and does not keep them, ^(S)I do not judge him; for ^(T)I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. ⁴⁸^(U)The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; ^(V)the word that I have spoken will judge him ^(W)on the last day. ⁴⁹For ^(X)I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father ^(Y)who sent me has himself given me ^(Z)a commandment—what to say and what to speak. ⁵⁰And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”