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!
5 Remember, Adonai, what has happened to us;
look, and see our disgrace.
2 The land we possessed has been passed on to strangers,
our homes to foreigners.
3 We have become fatherless orphans,
our mothers now are widows.
4 We have to pay to drink our own water;
we have to buy our own wood.
5 The yoke is on our necks; we are persecuted;
we toil to exhaustion but are given no rest.
6 We made pacts with Egypt and Ashur
to get enough food.
7 Our ancestors sinned and no longer exist;
we bear the weight of their guilt.
8 We are ruled by slaves,
and there is no one to save us from their power.
9 We get our food at the peril of our lives
because of the sword in the desert.
10 Our skins are as black as a furnace
because of the searing blasts of famine.
11 They have raped the women of Tziyon,
virgins in the cities of Y’hudah.
12 Princes are hung up by their hands,
leaders receive no respect.
13 Young men are compelled to grind at the mill,
boys stagger under loads of wood.
14 The old men have deserted the city gate,
the young men have given up their music.
15 Joy has vanished from our hearts,
our dancing has turned into mourning.
16 The crown has fallen from our heads.
Woe to us! for we have sinned.
17 This is why our hearts are sick;
this is why our eyes grow dim —
18 it’s because of Mount Tziyon, so wasted
that jackals have overrun it.
19 You, Adonai, reign forever;
your throne endures through all generations.
20 Why do you never remember us?
Why abandon us for so long a time?
21 Adonai, turn us back to you; and we will come back;
renew our days, as they were in the past —
22 unless you have totally rejected us
in a fury that knows no limits.
[Adonai, turn us back to you; and we will come back;
renew our days, as they were in the past.]
12 The next day, as they came back from Beit-Anyah, he felt hungry. 13 Spotting in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came up to it, he found nothing but leaves; for it wasn’t fig season. 14 He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And his talmidim heard what he said.
20 In the morning, as the talmidim passed by, they saw the fig tree withered all the way to its roots. 21 Kefa remembered and said to Yeshua, “Rabbi! Look! The fig tree that you cursed has dried up!” 22 He responded, “Have the kind of trust that comes from God! 23 Yes! I tell you that whoever does not doubt in his heart but trusts that what he says will happen can say to this mountain, ‘Go and throw yourself into the sea!’ and it will be done for him. 24 Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, trust that you are receiving it, and it will be yours.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.