Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
How Shall We Sing the Lord's Song?
137 By the waters of Babylon,
there we sat down and wept,
when we remembered Zion.
2 On the willows[a] there
we hung up our lyres.
3 For there our captors
required of us songs,
and our tormentors, mirth, saying,
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
4 (A)How shall we sing the Lord's song
in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
(B)let my right hand forget its skill!
6 Let my (C)tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
above my highest joy!
7 Remember, O Lord, against the (D)Edomites
(E)the day of Jerusalem,
how they said, (F)“Lay it bare, lay it bare,
down to its foundations!”
8 O daughter of Babylon, (G)doomed to be destroyed,
blessed shall he be who (H)repays you
with what you have done to us!
9 Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones
and (I)dashes them against the rock!
16 “For these things (A)I weep;
my eyes flow with tears;
for (B)a comforter is far from me,
one to (C)revive my spirit;
my children are desolate,
for the enemy has prevailed.”
17 (D)Zion stretches out her hands,
but (E)there is none to comfort her;
the Lord has commanded against Jacob
that his neighbors should be his foes;
Jerusalem has become
a filthy thing among them.
18 (F)“The Lord is in the right,
(G)for I have rebelled against his word;
but hear, all you peoples,
and see my suffering;
(H)my young women and my young men
have gone into captivity.
19 “I called to (I)my lovers,
but they deceived me;
my priests and elders
perished in the city,
while (J)they sought food
to revive their strength.
20 “Look, O Lord, for I am in distress;
(K)my stomach churns;
my heart is wrung within me,
because I have been very rebellious.
(L)In the street the sword bereaves;
in the house it is like death.
Testing of Your Faith
2 (A)Count it all joy, my brothers,[a] when you meet trials (B)of various kinds, 3 for you know that (C)the testing of your faith (D)produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be (E)perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
5 (F)If any of you lacks wisdom, (G)let him ask God, (H)who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But (I)let him ask in faith, (J)with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like (K)a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 (L)he is a double-minded man, (M)unstable in all his ways.
9 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, 10 and (N)the rich in his humiliation, because (O)like a flower of the grass[b] he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and (P)withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.