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!
5 O Lord, [earnestly] remember what has come upon us! Look down and see our reproach (our national disgrace)!
2 Our inheritance has fallen over to strangers, our houses to foreigners.
3 We have become orphans and fatherless; our mothers are like widows.
4 We have had to pay money to drink the water that belongs to us; our [own] wood is sold to us.
5 Our pursuers are upon our necks [like a yoke]; we are weary and are allowed no rest.
6 We have given the hand [as a pledge of fidelity and submission] to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians [merely] to get food to satisfy [our hunger].
7 Our fathers sinned and are no more, and [a]we have borne their iniquities.(A)
8 Servants and slaves rule over us; there is none to deliver us out of their hands.(B)
9 We get our bread at the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness [the wild Arabs, who may attack if we venture into the fields to reap our harvests].
10 Our skin glows and is parched as from [the heat of] an oven because of the burning heat of [the fever of] famine.
11 They ravished the women in Zion, the virgins in the cities of Judah.
12 They hung princes by their hands; the persons of elders were not respected.
13 Young men carried millstones, and boys fell [staggering] under [burdens of] wood.
14 The elders have ceased from [congregating at] the city’s gate, the young men from their music.
15 Ceased is the joy of our hearts; our dancing has turned into mourning.
16 The crown has fallen from our head [our honor is brought to the dust]! Woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 Because of this our hearts are faint and sick; because of these things our eyes are dim and see darkly.
18 As for Mount Zion, which lies desolate, the jackals prowl over it!
19 But You, O Lord, remain and reign forever; Your throne endures from generation to [all] generations.
20 Why do You forget us forever? Why do You forsake us so long?
21 Turn us to Yourself, O Lord, and we shall be turned and restored! Renew our days as of old!—
22 Or have You utterly rejected us? [b]Or are You exceedingly angry with us [still]?
12 On the day following, when they had come away from Bethany, He was hungry.
13 And seeing in the distance a fig tree [covered] with leaves, He went to see if He could find any [fruit] on it [[a]for in the fig tree the fruit appears at the same time as the leaves]. But when He came up to it, He found nothing but leaves, for the fig season had not yet come.
14 And He said to it, No one ever again shall eat fruit from you. And His disciples were listening [to what He said].
20 In the morning, when they were passing along, they noticed that the fig tree was withered [completely] away to its roots.
21 And Peter remembered and said to Him, Master, look! The fig tree which You doomed has withered away!
22 And Jesus, replying, said to them, Have faith in God [constantly].
23 Truly I tell you, whoever says to this mountain, Be lifted up and thrown into the sea! and does not doubt at all in his heart but believes that what he says will take place, it will be done for him.
24 For this reason I am telling you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe (trust and be confident) that it is granted to you, and you will [get it].
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