Bible Browser

Psalm 137

Lament over the Destruction of Jerusalem

¹ By the rivers of Babylon—
   there we sat down and there we wept
   when we remembered Zion.
² On the willows^* there
   we hung up our harps.
³ For there our captors
   asked us for songs,
and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,
   ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’

⁴ How could we sing the Lord’s song
   in a foreign land?
⁵ If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
   let my right hand wither!
⁶ Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth,
   if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
   above my highest joy.

⁷ Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites
   the day of Jerusalem’s fall,
how they said, ‘Tear it down! Tear it down!
   Down to its foundations!’
⁸ O daughter Babylon, you devastator!^*
   Happy shall they be who pay you back
   what you have done to us!
⁹ Happy shall they be who take your little ones
   and dash them against the rock!

Psalm 144

Prayer for National Deliverance and Security

Of David.
¹ Blessed be the Lord, my rock,
   who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle;
² my rock^* and my fortress,
   my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield, in whom I take refuge,
   who subdues the peoples^* under me.

³ O Lord, what are human beings that you regard them,
   or mortals that you think of them?
⁴ They are like a breath;
   their days are like a passing shadow.

⁵ Bow your heavens, O Lord, and come down;
   touch the mountains so that they smoke.
⁶ Make the lightning flash and scatter them;
   send out your arrows and rout them.
⁷ Stretch out your hand from on high;
   set me free and rescue me from the mighty waters,
   from the hand of aliens,
⁸ whose mouths speak lies,
   and whose right hands are false.

⁹ I will sing a new song to you, O God;
   upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you,
¹⁰ the one who gives victory to kings,
   who rescues his servant David.
¹¹ Rescue me from the cruel sword,
   and deliver me from the hand of aliens,
whose mouths speak lies,
   and whose right hands are false.

¹² May our sons in their youth
   be like plants full grown,
our daughters like corner pillars,
   cut for the building of a palace.
¹³ May our barns be filled
   with produce of every kind;
may our sheep increase by thousands,
   by tens of thousands in our fields,
¹⁴   and may our cattle be heavy with young.
May there be no breach in the walls,^* no exile,
   and no cry of distress in our streets.

¹⁵ Happy are the people to whom such blessings fall;
   happy are the people whose God is the Lord.

¹²And Balaam said to Balak, ‘Did I not tell your messengers whom you sent to me, ¹³“If Balak should give me his house full of silver and gold, I would not be able to go beyond the word of the Lord, to do either good or bad of my own will; what the Lord says, that is what I will say”? ¹⁴So now, I am going to my people; let me advise you what this people will do to your people in days to come.’

Balaam’s Fourth Oracle

15 So he uttered his oracle, saying:
‘The oracle of Balaam son of Beor,
   the oracle of the man whose eye is clear,^*
16 the oracle of one who hears the words of God,
   and knows the knowledge of the Most High,^*
who sees the vision of the Almighty,^*
   who falls down, but with his eyes uncovered:
¹⁷ I see him, but not now;
   I behold him, but not near—
a star shall come out of Jacob,
   and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel;
it shall crush the borderlands^* of Moab,
   and the territory^* of all the Shethites.
¹⁸ Edom will become a possession,
   Seir a possession of its enemies,^*
   while Israel does valiantly.
¹⁹ One out of Jacob shall rule,
   and destroy the survivors of Ir.’

20 Then he looked on Amalek, and uttered his oracle, saying:
‘First among the nations was Amalek,
but its end is to perish for ever.’

21 Then he looked on the Kenite, and uttered his oracle, saying:
‘Enduring is your dwelling-place,
   and your nest is set in the rock;
²² yet Kain is destined for burning.
   How long shall Asshur take you away captive?’

23 Again he uttered his oracle, saying:
‘Alas, who shall live when God does this?
²⁴   But ships shall come from Kittim
and shall afflict Asshur and Eber;
   and he also shall perish for ever.’

25 Then Balaam got up and went back to his place, and Balak also went his way.

Future Glory

18 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. ¹⁹For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; ²⁰for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²²We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now; ²³and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴For in^* hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes^* for what is seen? ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

The Question about the Resurrection

23 The same day some Sadducees came to him, saying there is no resurrection;^* and they asked him a question, saying, ²⁴‘Teacher, Moses said, “If a man dies childless, his brother shall marry the widow, and raise up children for his brother.” ²⁵Now there were seven brothers among us; the first married, and died childless, leaving the widow to his brother. ²⁶The second did the same, so also the third, down to the seventh. ²⁷Last of all, the woman herself died. ²⁸In the resurrection, then, whose wife of the seven will she be? For all of them had married her.’

29 Jesus answered them, ‘You are wrong, because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God. ³⁰For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels^* in heaven. ³¹And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God, ³²“I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”? He is God not of the dead, but of the living.’ ³³And when the crowd heard it, they were astounded at his teaching.

The Greatest Commandment

34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, ³⁵and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ³⁶‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ ³⁷He said to him, ‘ “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” ³⁸This is the greatest and first commandment. ³⁹And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” ⁴⁰On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’