Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 137[a]
The Exiles’ Remembrance of Zion
1 By the rivers[b] of Babylon
we sat down and wept
when we remembered Zion.
2 [c]There on the poplars
we hung up our harps.
3 For it was there that our captors
asked us to sing them a song,
and, tormenting us, demanded a joyful song:
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”
4 But how could we sing songs of the Lord
while living in a foreign land?[d]
5 [e]If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
may my right hand fail me.
6 May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not regard Jerusalem
as the greatest of my joys.
7 [f]Remember, O Lord, the cruelty of the Edomites
on the day when Jerusalem fell,[g]
how they shouted, “Tear it down!
Tear it down to its very foundations!”
8 O Daughter[h] of Babylon, you destroyer,
happy will he be who repays you
for the suffering you inflicted upon us!
9 Happy will he be who seizes your babies
and smashes them against a rock![i]
Chapter 5
The Prophet’s Plea for Mercy
1 Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us
look, and see our disgrace.
2 Our inherited lands have been given to strangers,
our homes to foreigners.
3 We have become orphans and fatherless;
our mothers are like widows.
4 We must purchase the water we drink;
we must pay for our own wood.
5 On our necks is the yoke of those who persecute us;
although we are exhausted, we are afforded no rest.
6 We have submitted to Egypt and Assyria
to get enough bread to sustain us.
7 Our ancestors who sinned are no longer alive,
but we bear the burden of their guilt.
8 Slaves have become our rulers;
there is no one to deliver us from their hands.
9 We earn our bread at the peril of our lives
because of the sword in the wilderness.[a]
10 Our skin is blackened as in a furnace
from the scorching heat of famine.
11 Women have been raped in Zion
and virgins in the towns of Judah.
12 Princes have been hung up by their hands;
elders are shown no respect.
13 Young men toil, carrying the millstones;
boys stagger under their loads of wood.
14 The old men no longer assemble at the city gate;[b]
the young men have given up their music.
15 Joy has vanished from our hearts;
our dancing has turned to mourning.
16 The garlands have fallen from our heads;
woe to us, for we have sinned.
17 This is why we are sick at heart;
because of this our eyes have grown dim.
18 Mount Zion lies desolate,
overrun with jackals.
19 But you, O Lord, reign forever;
your throne endures from age to age.
20 Why have you ceased to remember us?
Why have you abandoned us for so long a time?
21 Restore us back to you, O Lord, and we will return.[c]
Renew our days as we had of old,
22 unless you have utterly rejected us
with an anger that is beyond measure.
12 Jesus Curses a Sterile Fig Tree.[a] On the next day, as they were leaving Bethany, he felt hungry. 13 Noticing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find any fruit on it. When he reached it, he found nothing except leaves, since it was not the season for figs. 14 Then he said to it, “May no one ever again eat fruit from your branches.” And his disciples heard him say this.
20 The Lesson of the Withered Fig Tree.[a] Early the next morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 21 Then Peter, recalling what had happened, said to Jesus: “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered away.”
22 Jesus said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 Amen, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be accomplished for him. 24 So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
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