Old/New Testament

¹ By the rivers^[b] of Babylon
    we sat down and wept
    when we remembered Zion.
^2 [c]There on the poplars
    we hung up our harps.
³ For it was there that our captors
    asked us to sing them a song,
and, tormenting us, demanded a joyful song:
    “Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”
⁴ But how could we sing songs of the Lord
    while living in a foreign land?^[d]
5 [e]If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
    may my right hand fail me.
⁶ May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth
    if I do not remember you,
if I do not regard Jerusalem
    as the greatest of my joys.
^7 [f]Remember, O Lord, the cruelty of the Edomites
    on the day when Jerusalem fell,^[g]
how they shouted, “Tear it down!
    Tear it down to its very foundations!”
⁸ O Daughter^[h] of Babylon, you destroyer,
    happy will he be who repays you
    for the suffering you inflicted upon us!
⁹ Happy will he be who seizes your babies
    and smashes them against a rock!^[i]

I offer you thanks, O Lord, with all my heart;^[k]
    before the “gods” I sing your praise.
² I bow down toward your holy temple
    and I praise your name^[l]
    for your kindness and your faithfulness,
for you have exalted above all things
    your name and your word.
³ On the day I cried out, you answered me
    and granted strength to my spirit.
^4 [m]All the kings of the earth will praise you, O Lord,
    when they hear the words of your mouth.
⁵ They will sing of the ways of the Lord:
    “How great is the Lord’s glory!”
⁶ For though the Lord is exalted, he cares for the lowly,^[n]
    but he remains far distant from the proud.
⁷ Although I walk in the midst of hostility,
    you preserve my life.
You stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies,
    and with your right hand^[o] you deliver me.
⁸ The Lord will fulfill his plan for me.
    Your kindness, O Lord, endures forever;
    do not forsake the work of your hands.^[p]

^[s]O Lord, you have examined me
    and you know me.
² You know when I sit and when I stand;^[t]
    you perceive my thoughts from a distance.
³ You mark when I go out and when I lie down;
    all my ways are open to you.
⁴ A word is not even on my tongue
    and you, O Lord, are completely aware of it.
⁵ You enfold me from in front and from behind,
    and you place your hand upon me.^[u]
6 Your knowledge is beyond my comprehension,
    far too sublime for me to attain.
^7 [v]Where can I go to hide from your spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I ascend to the heavens, you are there;
    if I take my rest in the netherworld, you are also there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn^[w]
    and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
    and your right hand will hold me fast.
^11 [x]If I say, “Surely the darkness will conceal me
    and the day around me will turn to night,”
¹² even the darkness is not dark to you;
    the night is as bright as the day,
    for to you darkness and light are the same.
^13 [y]You created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am wonderfully made;
    awesome are your works,
    as I know very well.
¹⁵ My body was not hidden from you
    when I was being made in secret.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
    you saw me in the womb.^[z]
16 [aa]The sum total of my days
    were all recorded in your book.^[ab]
My life was fashioned
    before it had come into being.
¹⁷ How precious to me are your designs, O God!
    How vast in number they are!
¹⁸ If I were to attempt to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,^[ac]
    I am still with you.
^19 [ad]If only you would slay the wicked, O God,
    and the bloodthirsty would leave me!^[ae]
20 They blaspheme your name
    and treacherously rise up against you.^[af]
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord,
    and loathe those who rise up against you?
²² My hatred for them is unlimited;
    I regard them as my personal enemies.
²³ Examine me, O God, and know my heart;^[ag]
    test me and understand my thoughts.
²⁴ See if I follow an evil way,
    and guide me on the way to eternity.

¹ If in speaking I use human tongues
and angelic as well,
but do not have love,^[a]
I am nothing more than a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
² If I have the gift of prophecy
and the ability to understand all mysteries and all knowledge,
and have all the faith necessary to move mountains,
but do not have love,
I am nothing.
³ If I give away everything to feed the poor
and hand over my body to be burned,
but do not have love,
I achieve nothing.
⁴ Love is patient;
love is charitable.
Love is not envious;
it does not have an inflated opinion of itself;
it is not filled with its own importance.
⁵ Love is never rude;
it does not seek its own advantage.
It is not prone to anger;
neither does it brood over setbacks.
⁶ Love does not rejoice over wrongdoing
but rejoices in the truth.
⁷ Love bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things.
⁸ Love never fails.
Prophecies will eventually cease,
tongues will become silent,
and knowledge will pass away,
⁹ for our knowledge is partial
and our prophesying is partial;
¹⁰ but when we encounter what is perfect,
that which is imperfect will pass away.
¹¹ When I was a child,
I used to talk like a child,
think like a child,
and reason like a child.
However, when I became a man,
I put all childish ways aside.
¹² At the present time we see indistinctly, as in a mirror;
then we shall see face to face.
My knowledge is only partial now;
then I shall know fully,
even as I am fully known.
¹³ Thus there are three things that endure: faith, hope, and love,
and the greatest of these is love.^[b]