Old/New Testament
Israel in a Strange Land
137 We sat down and cried by the rivers of Babylon when we remembered Zion. 2 There upon the trees we put our harps. 3 For those who held us there made us sing. And those who made it hard for us asked for joy. They said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”
4 How can we sing the song of the Lord in a strange land? 5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget what it is able to do. 6 May my tongue hold to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not honor Jerusalem above my highest joy.
7 O Lord, remember what the sons of Edom did on the day Jerusalem fell. “Knock it down,” they said, “Knock it down to the ground.” 8 O daughter of Babylon, you who will be destroyed, how honored will be the one who pays you back for what you have done to us! 9 How honored will be the one who catches your children and throws them against the rock!
A Song of Praise
138 I will give You thanks with all my heart. I will sing praises to You in front of the gods. 2 I will bow down toward Your holy house. And I will give thanks to Your name for Your loving-kindness and Your truth. For You have honored Your Word because of what Your name is. 3 You answered me on the day I called. You gave me strength in my soul.
4 O Lord, all the kings of the earth will give thanks to You when they have heard the words of Your mouth. 5 And they will sing of the ways of the Lord. For the shining beauty of the Lord is great. 6 For even if the Lord is honored, He thinks about those who have no pride. But He knows the proud from far away. 7 Even if I walk into trouble, You will keep my life safe. You will put out Your hand against the anger of those who hate me. And Your right hand will save me. 8 The Lord will finish the work He started for me. O Lord, Your loving-kindness lasts forever. Do not turn away from the works of Your hands.
God Cares for His People
139 O Lord, You have looked through me and have known me. 2 You know when I sit down and when I get up. You understand my thoughts from far away. 3 You look over my path and my lying down. You know all my ways very well. 4 Even before I speak a word, O Lord, You know it all. 5 You have closed me in from behind and in front. And You have laid Your hand upon me. 6 All You know is too great for me. It is too much for me to understand.
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I run away from where You are? 8 If I go up to heaven, You are there! If I make my bed in the place of the dead, You are there! 9 If I take the wings of the morning or live in the farthest part of the sea, 10 even there Your hand will lead me and Your right hand will hold me. 11 If I say, “For sure the darkness will cover me and the light around me will be night,” 12 even the darkness is not dark to You. And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are the same to You.
13 For You made the parts inside me. You put me together inside my mother. 14 I will give thanks to You, for the greatness of the way I was made brings fear. Your works are great and my soul knows it very well. 15 My bones were not hidden from You when I was made in secret and put together with care in the deep part of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw me before I was put together. And all the days of my life were written in Your book before any of them came to be.
17 Your thoughts are of great worth to me, O God. How many there are! 18 If I could number them, there would be more than the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.
19 If only You would kill the sinful, O God, and the men of blood would go away from me! 20 For they speak against You in sin. Those who hate You use Your name in a wrong way. 21 Do I not hate those who hate You, O Lord? And do I not hate those who rise up against You? 22 I hate them with the strongest hate. They have become men who hate me.
23 Look through me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. 24 See if there is any sinful way in me and lead me in the way that lasts forever.
Love—the Greatest of All
13 I may be able to speak the languages of men and even of angels, but if I do not have love, it will sound like noisy brass. 2 If I have the gift of speaking God’s Word and if I understand all secrets, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I know all things and if I have the gift of faith so I can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give everything I have to feed poor people and if I give my body to be burned, but do not have love, it will not help me.
4 Love does not give up. Love is kind. Love is not jealous. Love does not put itself up as being important. Love has no pride. 5 Love does not do the wrong thing. Love never thinks of itself. Love does not get angry. Love does not remember the suffering that comes from being hurt by someone. 6 Love is not happy with sin. Love is happy with the truth. 7 Love takes everything that comes without giving up. Love believes all things. Love hopes for all things. Love keeps on in all things.
8 Love never comes to an end. The gift of speaking God’s Word will come to an end. The gift of speaking in special sounds will be stopped. The gift of understanding will come to an end. 9 For we only know a part now, and we speak only a part. 10 When everything is perfect, then we will not need these gifts that are not perfect.
11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child. I thought like a child. I understood like a child. Now I am a man. I do not act like a child anymore. 12 Now that which we see is as if we were looking in a broken mirror. But then we will see everything. Now I know only a part. But then I will know everything in a perfect way. That is how God knows me right now. 13 And now we have these three: faith and hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.
Copyright © 1969, 2003 by Barbour Publishing, Inc.