Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 137
1 By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and wept
when we remembered Zion.
2 We hung our harps
upon the poplars.
3 For there our captors made us sing
and our tormentors made us entertain,
saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”
4 How shall we sing the song of the Lord
in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget its skill.
6 If I do not remember you,
let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not have Jerusalem
as my highest joy.
7 Remember, O Lord, the people of Edom
in the day of Jerusalem,
who said, “Raze it, raze it,
down to its foundations.”
8 O daughter of Babylon, who is to be destroyed,
blessed is the one who rewards you
as you have done to us.
9 Blessed is the one who takes
and dashes your little ones against the rocks.
A Prayer for Restoration
5 Remember, O Lord, what has come upon us;
look, and see our reproach!
2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
our homes to foreigners.
3 We have become orphans and fatherless;
our mothers are like widows.
4 We must pay for the water we drink;
our wood is sold to us.
5 Our pursuers are at our necks;
we labor and have no rest.
6 We have given our hand to Egypt and to Assyria,
to be satisfied with bread.
7 Our fathers sinned and are no more,
but we bear their iniquities.
8 Slaves rule over us;
there is no one to deliver us from their hand.
9 We get our bread at the peril of our lives,
because of the sword in the wilderness.
10 Our skin is hot as an oven,
because of the terrible famine.
11 They ravished the women in Zion,
the virgins in the cities of Judah.
12 Princes were hung up by their hands,
the faces of elders were not honored.
13 Young men ground at the millstones;
boys staggered under loads of wood.
14 The elders have left the city gate,
the young men stopped their music.
15 The joy of our hearts has ceased;
our dancing has turned into mourning.
16 The crown has fallen from our head;
woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 For this our heart is faint;
for these things our eyes grow dim;
18 because of Mount Zion, which is desolate,
with foxes walking upon it.
19 You, O Lord, remain forever;
Your throne endures from generation to generation.
20 Why do You forget us forever,
and forsake us for so long a time?
21 Restore us to Yourself, O Lord, that we may return!
Renew our days as of old,
22 unless You have utterly rejected us,
and are very angry with us.
The Cursing of the Fig Tree(A)
12 On the next day when they had returned from Bethany, He was hungry. 13 Seeing from afar a fig tree with leaves, He went to see if perhaps He might find anything on it. When He came to it, He found nothing except leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 Jesus said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And His disciples heard it.
The Lesson From the Fig Tree(A)
20 In the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. 21 Peter, calling to remembrance, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.”
22 Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. 23 For truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, he will have whatever he says. 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you will receive them, and you will have them.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.