Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
137 By the rivers of Bavel we sat down and wept
as we remembered Tziyon.
2 We had hung up our lyres
on the willows that were there,
3 when those who had taken us captive
asked us to sing them a song;
our tormentors demanded joy from us —
“Sing us one of the songs from Tziyon!”
4 How can we sing a song about Adonai
here on foreign soil?
5 If I forget you, Yerushalayim,
may my right hand wither away!
6 May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth
if I fail to remember you,
if I fail to count Yerushalayim
the greatest of all my joys.
7 Remember, Adonai, against the people of Edom
the day of Yerushalayim’s fall,
how they cried, “Tear it down! Tear it down!
Raze it to the ground!”
8 Daughter of Bavel, you will be destroyed!
A blessing on anyone who pays you back
for the way you treated us!
9 A blessing on anyone who seizes your babies
and smashes them against a rock!
13 What can be said to you, what can be compared with you,
daughter of Yerushalayim?
What example can I give to comfort you,
virgin daughter of Tziyon?
For your downfall is as vast as the sea;
who can heal you?
14 The visions your prophets saw for you
were futile, just a whitewash.
They did not expose your guilt,
so as to reverse your fortunes —
no, the visions they saw for you
were alluring, but futile.
15 All who pass your way
clap their hands at you,
hissing and shaking their heads
at the daughter of Yerushalayim:
“This city was called ‘perfection in beauty’?
‘the joy of the whole earth’?”
16 All your adversaries
open their mouths to jeer at you.
They hiss, they grind their teeth;
they say, “We have swallowed her up!
This is the day we were waiting for,
and now we have lived to see it!”
17 Adonai has done what he planned,
he has fulfilled his promise,
which he decreed in ancient times.
He has destroyed without pity,
he has let the enemy gloat over you
and filled your foes with pride.
18 Their hearts cried out to Adonai,
“Wall of the daughter of Tziyon!
Let your tears stream down
like a torrent, day and night!
Give yourself no respite,
give your eyes no rest!
19 “Get up! Cry out in the night,
at the beginning of every watch!
Pour your heart out like water
before the face of Adonai!
Lift up your hands to him
for the lives of your babies,
who are fainting away from hunger
at every streetcorner.”
20 Adonai, look and see
who it is you have thus tormented!
Should women eat the fruit of their wombs,
the children they have held in their hands?
Should cohanim and prophets be slaughtered
in the sanctuary of Adonai?
21 Youths and old men are lying
on the ground in the streets,
my unmarried women and young men
have fallen by the sword.
You killed them on the day of your anger,
you slaughtered them without pity.
22 You have summoned my terrors from every direction,
as on a festival day.
On the day of Adonai’s anger,
not one escaped; not one survived —
the children I held in my arms and raised,
my enemy has destroyed.
5 Everyone who believes that Yeshua is the Messiah has God as his father, and everyone who loves a father loves his offspring too. 2 Here is how we know that we love God’s children: when we love God, we also do what he commands. 3 For loving God means obeying his commands. Moreover, his commands are not burdensome, 4 because everything which has God as its Father overcomes the world. And this is what victoriously overcomes the world: our trust. 5 Who does overcome the world if not the person who believes that Yeshua is the Son of God?
13 I have written you these things so that you may know that you have eternal life — you who keep trusting in the person and power of the Son of God.
14 This is the confidence we have in his presence: if we ask anything that accords with his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us — whatever we ask — then we know that we have what we have asked from him.
16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin that does not lead to death, he will ask; and God will give him life for those whose sinning does not lead to death. There is sin that does lead to death; I am not saying he should pray about that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.
18 We know that everyone who has God as his Father does not go on sinning; on the contrary, the Son born of God protects him, and the Evil One does not touch him.
19 We know that we are from God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the Evil One.
20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us discernment, so that we may know who is genuine; moreover, we are united with the One who is genuine, united with his Son Yeshua the Messiah. He is the genuine God and eternal life.
21 Children, guard yourselves against false gods!
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.