Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Remembering Jerusalem
137 There we sat down and cried—
by the rivers of Babylon—
as we remembered Zion.
2 On the willows there
we hung our harps,
3 for it was there that our captors
asked us for songs
and our torturers demanded joy from us,
“Sing us one of the songs about Zion!”
4 How are we to sing the song of the Lord
on foreign soil?
5 If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand cease to function.[a]
6 May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth
if I don’t remember you,
if I don’t consider Jerusalem
to be more important than my highest joy.
7 Remember the day of Jerusalem’s fall,[b] Lord,
because of[c] the Edomites,
who kept saying, “Tear it down!
Tear it right down to its foundations!”
8 Daughter of Babylon! You devastator!
How blessed will be the one who pays you back
for what you have done to us.
9 How blessed will be the one who seizes your young children
and pulverizes them against the cliff!
13 What can be said about you?
To what should you be compared, fair[a] Jerusalem?
To what may I liken you,
so I may comfort you, fair one[b] of Zion?
Indeed, your wound is as deep as the sea—
who can heal you?
14 Your prophets look on your behalf;
they see false and deceptive visions.
They did not expose your sins
in order to restore what had been captured.[c]
Instead, they crafted oracles for you
that are false and misleading.
15 Everyone who passes by on the road
shake their fists[d] at you.
They hiss and shake their heads
at cherished[e] Jerusalem:
“Is this the city men used to call ‘The Perfection of Beauty,’
and ‘The Joy of the Entire Earth’”?
16 All of your enemies
insult you with gaping mouths.
They hiss and grind their teeth while saying,
“We have devoured her completely.
Yes, this is the day that we anticipated!
We found it at last;[f] we have seen it!”
17 The Lord did what he planned.
He carried out his threat.
Just as he commanded long ago,
he has torn down without pity;
He let the enemy boast about you
and has exalted the power[g] of your enemies.
18 Cry out from your heart to the Lord,
wall of fair[h] Zion!
Let your tears run down like a river
day and night.
Allow yourself no rest,
and don’t stop crying.
19 Get up and cry aloud in the night,
at the beginning of every hour.[i]
Pour out your heart like water
in the presence of the Lord!
Lift up your hands toward him
for the lives of your children,
who are fainting away
at every street corner.
20 Look, Lord, and take note:
To whom have you done this?
Should women eat their offspring,
the children they have cuddled?
Should priests and prophets be slain
in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 Young men and the aged
lie on the ground in the streets;
my young women and young men
have fallen by the sword.
You killed them in your anger,
slaughtering them without pity.
22 You have invited those who terrorize me to come around,
as if today were a festival.
No one has escaped or survived
the time of the Lord’s anger.
My enemy has finished off
those whom I cuddled and raised.
Faith Overcomes the World
5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah[a] has been born from God, and everyone who loves the parent also loves the child. 2 This is how we know that we love God’s children: we love God and keep his commandments. 3 For this demonstrates our love for God: We keep his commandments, and his commandments are not difficult, 4 because everyone who is born from God has overcome the world. Our faith is the victory that overcomes the world. 5 Who overcomes the world? Is it not the person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
Conclusion
13 I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 And this is the confidence that we have in him: if we ask for anything according to his will, he listens to us. 15 And if we know that he listens to our requests, we can be sure that we have what we ask him for.
16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray that God[a] would give him life. This applies to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not telling you to pray about that. 17 Every kind of wrongdoing is sin, yet there are sins that do not lead to death.
18 We know that the person who has been born from God does not go on sinning. Rather, the Son[b] of God protects them, and the evil one cannot harm them. 19 We know that we are from God and that the whole world lies under the control of the evil one. 20 We also know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the true God.[c] We are in union with the one who is true, his Son Jesus the Messiah,[d] who is the true God and eternal life.
21 Little children, keep yourselves away from idols.[e]
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