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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.

¹⁶ For these things I weep;
   my eyes flow with tears;
for a comforter is far from me,
   one to revive my courage;
my children are desolate,
   for the enemy has prevailed.

¹⁷ Zion stretches out her hands,
   but there is no one to comfort her;
the Lord has commanded against Jacob
   that his neighbours should become his foes;
Jerusalem has become
   a filthy thing among them.

¹⁸ The Lord is in the right,
   for I have rebelled against his word;
but hear, all you peoples,
   and behold my suffering;
my young women and young men
   have gone into captivity.

¹⁹ I called to my lovers
   but they deceived me;
my priests and elders
   perished in the city
while seeking food
   to revive their strength.

²⁰ See, O Lord, how distressed I am;
   my stomach churns,
my heart is wrung within me,
   because I have been very rebellious.
In the street the sword bereaves;
   in the house it is like death.

²¹ They heard how I was groaning,
   with no one to comfort me.
All my enemies heard of my trouble;
   they are glad that you have done it.
Bring on the day you have announced,
   and let them be as I am.

²² Let all their evildoing come before you;
   and deal with them
as you have dealt with me
   because of all my transgressions;
for my groans are many
   and my heart is faint.

Faith and Wisdom

2 My brothers and sisters,^* whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, ³because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; ⁴and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.

5 If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. ⁶But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; ^{7, 8}for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

Poverty and Riches

9 Let the believer^* who is lowly boast in being raised up, ¹⁰and the rich in being brought low, because the rich will disappear like a flower in the field. ¹¹For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the field; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. It is the same with the rich; in the midst of a busy life, they will wither away.