Old/New Testament
Lament of the Exiles
137 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)
A Thankful Heart
Of David.
138 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 towards 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 fulfil his purpose for me.(S)
Lord, your faithful love endures for ever;
do not abandon the work of your hands.(T)
The All-Knowing, Ever-Present God
For the choir director. A psalm of David.
139 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)
23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my concerns.(AP)
24 See if there is any offensive[l] way in me;
lead me in the everlasting way.(AQ)
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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