Old/New Testament

137 By the rivers of Babylon,
there we sat, yes, we wept,
when we remembered Zion.
² On the willows^[a] in her midst,
we hung up our lyres.
³ For there our captors asked of us
words of a song,
and our tormentors^[b] asked of us jubilation,
“Sing for us from a song of Zion.”
⁴ How could we sing the song of Yahweh
in a foreign land?^[c]
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget.^[d]
6 Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
if do not I exalt Jerusalem
above my highest joy.
⁷ Remember, O Yahweh, against the sons of Edom
the day of Jerusalem,
the ones who said, “Lay it bare! Lay it bare
to its foundation!”
⁸ O daughter of Babylon, about to be devastated,
happy shall be he who pays back to you
what you paid out to us.^[e]
9 Happy shall be he who seizes
and smashes your children
against the rock.

138 I give you thanks with my whole heart;
before the gods I sing your praise.
² I bow down toward your holy temple
and give thanks to your name,
because of your loyal love and faithfulness,
for you have magnified your word^[g] according to all your name.^[h]
3 When^[i] I called and you answered me,
you emboldened me in my soul with strength.
⁴ All the kings of the earth
will praise you, O Yahweh,
when they have heard the words^[j] of your mouth,
⁵ and they will sing of the ways of Yahweh,
because Yahweh’s glory is great.
⁶ Though Yahweh is high, yet he sees the lowly,
but the proud he perceives^[k] at a distance.
⁷ Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
you preserve me alive.
You stretch out your hand against the anger of my enemies,
and you save me with your right hand.
⁸ Yahweh accomplishes things for my benefit.
O Yahweh, your loyal love endures forever;
do not abandon the works of your hands.

139 O Yahweh, you have searched me, and you know me.
² You know my sitting down and my rising up.
You understand my thought from afar.
³ You search out^[m] my wandering and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
⁴ For there is not a word yet on my tongue,
but behold, O Yahweh, you know it completely.
⁵ You barricade me behind and in front,
and set your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.
It is set high; I cannot prevail against it.
⁷ Where I can go from your Spirit,
or where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I ascend to heaven, there you are,
and if I make my bed in Sheol, look! There you are.
⁹ If I lift up the wings of the dawn,
and I alight on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand would lead me,
and your right hand would hold me fast.
¹¹ And if I should say, “Surely darkness will cover me,
and the light around me will be as night,”
¹² even the darkness is not too dark for you,^[n]
and the night shines as the day—
the darkness and the light are alike for you.
¹³ Indeed you created my inward parts;^[o]
you wove me in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you, because I am fearfully
and wonderfully made.^[p]
Wonderful are your works,
and my soul knows it well.
¹⁵ My frame^[q] was not hidden from you,
when I was created secretly,^[r]
and intricately woven
in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my embryo,^[s]
and in your book they all were written—
days fashioned for me when there was not one of them.
¹⁷ And to me, how precious^[t] are your thoughts, O God;
how vast is their sum.
¹⁸ If I should count them,
they would outnumber the sand.
I awaken, and I am still with you.
¹⁹ If only you would kill the wicked, O God—
so get away from me, you bloodthirsty men—^[u]
20 who speak against you deceitfully.
Your enemies take your name in vain.
²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, O Yahweh?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
²² I hate them with a complete hatred;
they have become my enemies.
²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ And see if there is in me the worship of false gods,^[v]
and lead me in the way everlasting.