Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

137 On the floods of Babylon, there we sat, and wept; while we bethought on Zion. (By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, and wept; when we thought about Zion.)

² In sallows in the midst thereof; we hanged up our organs. (On the willows nearby; we hung up our harps.)

³ For they that led us prisoners; asked us there the words of songs. And they that led away us said; Sing ye to us an hymn of the songs of Zion. (For they who led us away as prisoners; told us to sing there. Yea, they who led us away said, Sing ye for us a hymn of the songs of Zion.)

⁴ How shall we sing a song of the Lord; in an alien land? (But how can we sing a song to the Lord, in a foreign, or a strange, land?)

⁵ If I forget thee, Jerusalem; my right hand be given to forgetting. (Yea, if I forget thee, Jerusalem; may my right hand forget how to play my harp/may my right hand wither away.)

⁶ My tongue cleave to my cheeks; if I bethink not on thee. If I purposed not of thee, Jerusalem; in the beginning of my gladness. (And may my tongue cleave to my cheeks; if I do not remember thee, Jerusalem. Yea, if I do not think of thee, as my greatest joy.)

⁷ Lord, have thou mind on the sons of Edom; for the day of Jerusalem. Which say, Extinguish ye, extinguish ye; till to the foundament therein. (Lord, remember what the Edomites did; on that day that Jerusalem fell. They said, Destroy ye it! destroy ye it! unto its foundations!)

⁸ Thou wretched daughter of Babylon; he is blessed, that yieldeth to thee thy yielding, which thou yieldest to us. (O wretched daughter of Babylon; happy is he, who doeth to thee, what thou hast done to us/happy be those, who repay thee, for all that thou hast done to us.)

⁹ He is blessed, that shall hold; and hurtle down his little children at the stone. (Happy is he/Happy be they, who shall take hold of thy little children; and hurtle them against a stone.)

¹⁶ Therefore I am weeping, and mine eye is leading down water; for a comforter, converting my soul, is made far from me; my sons be made lost, for the enemy had the mastery. (And so I am weeping, and my eyes be leading down water; for a comforter, to refresh my soul, is made far from me; my sons and daughters be made lost, or left desolate, for the enemy had the mastery.)

¹⁷ Zion spreaded abroad his hands, none is that comforteth it; the Lord sent against Jacob enemies thereof, in the compass thereof; Jerusalem is made as defouled with unclean blood among them. (Zion spread abroad its hands, there is no one to comfort it; the Lord sent against Jacob its enemies, all around it; Jerusalem is defiled with unclean blood among them.)

¹⁸ (And the city saith,) The Lord is just (The Lord is in the right), for I stirred his mouth to wrathfulness; all peoples, I beseech, hear ye, and see my sorrow; my virgins and my young men went forth into captivity.

¹⁹ I called my friends, and they deceived me; my priests and mine eld men in the city be wasted; for they sought meat to themselves, to comfort their life/to strengthen their life (for they sought food for themselves, to refresh their souls).

²⁰ See thou, Lord, for I am troubled, my womb is troubled; mine heart is destroyed in myself, for I am full of bitterness; [the] sword slayeth withoutforth, and like death is at home (the sword killeth people outside, and there is death at home).

²¹ They heard, that I make inward wailing, and none is that comforteth me; all mine enemies heard (of) mine evil, they be glad, for thou hast done (it); thou hast brought a day of comfort, and they shall be made like me (but thou shalt bring the day that thou hast promised, and then they shall be made like me).

²² All the evil of them enter before thee, and gather thou grapes away from them, as thou hast gathered grapes away from me, for my wickednesses; for my wailings be many, and mine heart is mourning. (Let all their evil enter before thee, and take away the grapes from them, as thou hast taken away the grapes from me, for my wickednesses; for my wailings be many, and my heart is in mourning.)

² My brethren, deem ye all joy [guess ye all joy], when ye fall into diverse temptations,

³ witting, that the proving of your faith worketh patience;

⁴ and patience hath a perfect work, that ye be perfect and whole, and fail in nothing. [soothly patience hath a perfect work, that ye be perfect and whole, in nothing failing.]

⁵ And if any of you needeth wisdom, ask he of God, which giveth to all men largely [that giveth to all men largely], and upbraideth not; and it shall be given to him.

⁶ But ask he in faith, and doubt nothing [nothing doubting]; for he that doubteth, is like to a wave of the sea, which is moved and borne about of the wind [the which of wind is moved and borne about].

⁷ Therefore guess not that man, that he shall take any thing of the Lord.

⁸ A man double in soul is unstable in all his ways.

⁹ And a meek brother have glory in his enhancing. [Forsooth a meek brother glory in his enhancing.]

¹⁰ and a rich man in his lowness; for as the flower of grass he shall pass.

¹¹ The sun rose up with heat, and dried the grass, and the flower of it felled down, and the fairness of his face perished; and so a rich man withereth in his ways.^[a]