Bible Browser

Psalm 137

1  By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, ♦︎
   when we remembered Zion.
2  As for our lyres, we hung them up ♦︎
   on the willows that grow in that land.
3  For there our captors asked for a song,
      our tormentors called for mirth: ♦︎
   ‘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.
6  Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth
      if I do not remember you, ♦︎
   if I set not Jerusalem above my highest joy.
7  Remember, O Lord, against the people of Edom
      the day of Jerusalem, ♦︎
   how they said, ‘Down with it, down with it,
      even to the ground.’
8  O daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, ♦︎
   happy the one who repays you
      for all you have done to us;
9  Who takes your little ones, ♦︎
   and dashes them against the rock.

A Plea for Mercy

5Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us;
   look, and see our disgrace!
² Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
   our homes to aliens.
³ We have become orphans, fatherless;
   our mothers are like widows.
⁴ We must pay for the water we drink;
   the wood we get must be bought.
⁵ With a yoke^* on our necks we are hard driven;
   we are weary, we are given no rest.
⁶ We have made a pact with^* Egypt and Assyria,
   to get enough bread.
⁷ Our ancestors sinned; they are no more,
   and we bear their iniquities.
⁸ Slaves rule over us;
   there is no one to deliver us from their hand.
⁹ We get our bread at the peril of our lives,
   because of the sword in the wilderness.
¹⁰ Our skin is black as an oven
   from the scorching heat of famine.
¹¹ Women are raped in Zion,
   virgins in the towns of Judah.
¹² Princes are hung up by their hands;
   no respect is shown to the elders.
¹³ Young men are compelled to grind,
   and boys stagger under loads of wood.
¹⁴ The old men have left the city gate,
   the young men their music.
¹⁵ The joy of our hearts has ceased;
   our dancing has been turned to mourning.
¹⁶ The crown has fallen from our head;
   woe to us, for we have sinned!
¹⁷ Because of this our hearts are sick,
   because of these things our eyes have grown dim:
¹⁸ because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate;
   jackals prowl over it.

¹⁹ But you, O Lord, reign for ever;
   your throne endures to all generations.
²⁰ Why have you forgotten us completely?
   Why have you forsaken us these many days?
²¹ Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored;
   renew our days as of old—
²² unless you have utterly rejected us,
   and are angry with us beyond measure.

Jesus Curses the Fig Tree

12 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. ¹³Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see whether perhaps he would find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. ¹⁴He said to it, ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again.’ And his disciples heard it.

The Lesson from the Withered Fig Tree

20 In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. ²¹Then Peter remembered and said to him, ‘Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.’ ²²Jesus answered them, ‘Have^* faith in God. ²³Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, “Be taken up and thrown into the sea”, and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. ²⁴So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received^* it, and it will be yours.