Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
By the Rivers of Babylon
Psalm 137
1 By the rivers of Babylon,
we sat down and wept,
when we remembered Zion.
2 On the willows there
we hung up our harps.
3 For there our captors demanded songs
and our tormentors asked for joy:
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”
4 How can we sing a song of Adonai in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand wither.
6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I cease to remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem above my chief joy.
7 Remember, Adonai, the children of Edom,
what they said on the day Jerusalem fell:
“Strip her, strip her to her very foundation!”
8 O daughter of Babylon, the devastated one,
happy is the one who repays you
as you have paid us.
9 Happy is the one who seizes your little ones
and dashes them upon the rock.
16 Over these things I weep.
My eyes overflow with water.
For far from me is a comforter,
who might refresh my soul.
My children are desolate,
because the enemy has prevailed.”
17 Zion spreads out her hands—
there is no one to comfort her.
Adonai has decreed against Jacob.
Those surrounding him have become his foes;
Jerusalem has become
niddah in their eyes.
18 “Adonai is righteous,
for I have rebelled against His word.
Hear now, all peoples—
look at my suffering!
My maidens and my young men
have gone into captivity.
19 I called to my lovers—
they deceived me!
My kohanim and my elders
perished in the city
when they sought food
to keep themselves alive.
20 Look, Adonai, for I am in distress!
My stomach churns,
my heart pounds within me,
for I have been very rebellious.
Outside, the sword bereaves,
in the house it is like death.
21 They have heard me groaning.
There is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies heard of my distress,
They rejoice that You have done it.
May You bring about the day that You proclaimed,
so they may become like me!
22 Let all their evil come before You.
Deal with them as you dealt with me,
because of all my transgressions.
For my groans are many
and my heart is faint!”
Rejoice in Trials
2 Consider it all joy, my brethren,[a] when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect work, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God,[b] who gives to all without hesitation and without reproach; and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, without any doubting—for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord— 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
9 But let the brother in humble circumstances boast in his high position— 10 and the rich person in his humble position, because like the flower of the grass he will pass away. 11 For the sun arises with a scorching heat and withers the grass, and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed.[c] So also the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will wither away.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.