Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 137

¹ By the rivers of Babylon, there we [captives] sat down, yes, we wept when we [earnestly] remembered Zion [the city of our God imprinted on our hearts].

² On the willow trees in the midst of [Babylon] we hung our harps.

³ For there they who led us captive required of us a song with words, and our tormentors and they who wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.

⁴ How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?

⁵ If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill [with the harp].

⁶ Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I remember you not, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy!^(A)

⁷ Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites, that they said in the day of Jerusalem’s fall, Down, down to the ground with her!

⁸ O Daughter of Babylon [you devastator, you!], who [ought to be and] shall be destroyed, happy and blessed shall he be who requites you as you have served us.^(B)

⁹ Happy and blessed shall he be who takes and dashes your little ones against the rock!

¹⁶ For these things I weep; my eyes overflow with tears, because a comforter, one who could refresh and restore my soul, is far from me. My children are desolate and perishing, for the enemy has prevailed.^(A)

¹⁷ Zion stretches forth her hands, but there is no comforter for her. The Lord has commanded concerning and against Jacob that his neighbors should be his adversaries; Jerusalem has become a filthy thing among them [an object of contempt].

¹⁸ The Lord is righteous (just and in the right); for I have rebelled against His commandment (His word). Hear, I pray you, all you peoples, and look at my sorrow and suffering; my maidens and my young men have gone into captivity.

¹⁹ I [Jerusalem] called to my lovers [allies], but they deceived me. My priests and my elders expired in the city while they sought food to save their lives.

²⁰ Behold, O Lord, how distressed I am! My vital parts (emotions) are in tumult and are deeply disturbed; my heart cannot rest and is violently agitated within me, for I have grievously rebelled. Outside the house the sword bereaves, at home there is [famine, pestilence] death!

²¹ [My foes] have heard that I [Jerusalem] sigh and groan, that I have no comforter [in You]. All my enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad [O Lord] that You have done it. You will bring the day [of Judah’s punishment] that you have foretold and proclaimed; [it involves also my foes’ punishment] and they will become like me.^(B)

²² Let all their wickedness come before You; and deal with them as You have dealt with me because of all my transgressions; for my sighs and groans are many and my heart is faint.

² Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations.

³ Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience.

⁴ But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.

⁵ If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of ^[a]the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him.

⁶ Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind.

⁷ For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything [he asks for] from the Lord,

⁸ [For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides].

⁹ Let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his elevation [as a Christian, called to the true riches and to be an heir of God],

¹⁰ And the rich [person ought to glory] in being humbled [by being shown his human frailty], because like the flower of the grass he will pass away.

¹¹ For the sun comes up with a scorching heat and parches the grass; its flower falls off and its beauty fades away. Even so will the rich man wither and die in the midst of his pursuits.^(A)