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!

Footnotes

Psalm 137:2 Or poplars

Lamentations 1:16-22

English Standard Version

¹⁶“For these things ^(A)I weep;
    my eyes flow with tears;
for ^(B)a comforter is far from me,
    one to ^(C)revive my spirit;
my children are desolate,
    for the enemy has prevailed.”

¹⁷^(D)Zion stretches out her hands,
    but ^(E)there is none to comfort her;
the Lord has commanded against Jacob
    that his neighbors should be his foes;
Jerusalem has become
    a filthy thing among them.

¹⁸^(F)“The Lord is in the right,
    ^(G)for I have rebelled against his word;
but hear, all you peoples,
    and see my suffering;
^(H)my young women and my young men
    have gone into captivity.

¹⁹“I called to ^(I)my lovers,
    but they deceived me;
my priests and elders
    perished in the city,
while ^(J)they sought food
    to revive their strength.

²⁰“Look, O Lord, for I am in distress;
    ^(K)my stomach churns;
my heart is wrung within me,
    because I have been very rebellious.
^(L)In the street the sword bereaves;
    in the house it is like death.

²¹“They heard^[a] ^(M)my groaning,
    yet ^(N)there is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
    ^(O)they are glad that you have done it.
You have brought^[b] the day you announced;
    ^(P)now let them be as I am.

²²^(Q)“Let all their evildoing come before you,
    and deal with them
as ^(R)you have dealt with me
    because of all my transgressions;
for ^(S)my groans are many,
    and ^(T)my heart is faint.”

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Footnotes

Lamentations 1:21 Septuagint, Syriac Hear
Lamentations 1:21 Syriac Bring

James 1:2-11

English Standard Version

Testing of Your Faith

²^(A)Count it all joy, my brothers,^[a] when you meet trials ^(B)of various kinds, ³for you know that ^(C)the testing of your faith ^(D)produces steadfastness. ⁴And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be ^(E)perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

⁵^(F)If any of you lacks wisdom, ^(G)let him ask God, ^(H)who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. ⁶But ^(I)let him ask in faith, ^(J)with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like ^(K)a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸^(L)he is a double-minded man, ^(M)unstable in all his ways.

⁹Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, ¹⁰and ^(N)the rich in his humiliation, because ^(O)like a flower of the grass^[b] he will pass away. ¹¹For the sun rises with its scorching heat and ^(P)withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

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Footnotes

James 1:2 Or brothers and sisters. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, the plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters; also verses 16, 19
James 1:10 Or a wild flower