Psalms 137; Psalms 138; Psalms 139; 1 Corinthians 13

1 By the rivers in Babylon we sat and cried when we remembered Jerusalem.

2 On the poplar trees nearby we hung our harps.

3 Those who captured us asked us to sing; our enemies wanted happy songs. They said, "Sing us a song about Jerusalem!"

4 But we cannot sing songs about the Lord while we are in this foreign country!

5 Jerusalem, if I forget you, let my right hand lose its skill.

6 Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not think about Jerusalem as my greatest joy.

7 Lord, remember what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. They said, "Tear it down! Tear it down to its foundations!"

8 People of Babylon, you will be destroyed. The people who pay you back for what you did to us will be happy.

9 They will grab your babies and throw them against the rocks. A psalm of David.

1 Lord, I will thank you with all my heart; I will sing to you before the gods.

2 I will bow down facing your holy Temple, and I will thank you for your love and loyalty. You have made your name and your word greater than anything.

3 On the day I called to you, you answered me. You made me strong and brave.

4 Lord, let all the kings of the earth praise you when they hear the words you speak.

5 They will sing about what the Lord has done, because the Lord's glory is great.

6 Though the Lord is supreme, he takes care of those who are humble, but he stays away from the proud.

7 Lord, even when I have trouble all around me, you will keep me alive. When my enemies are angry, you will reach down and save me by your power.

8 Lord, you do everything for me. Lord, your love continues forever. Do not leave us, whom you made.

1 Lord, you have examined me and know all about me.

2 You know when I sit down and when I get up. You know my thoughts before I think them.

3 You know where I go and where I lie down. You know thoroughly everything I do.

4 Lord, even before I say a word, you already know it.

5 You are all around me -- in front and in back -- and have put your hand on me.

6 Your knowledge is amazing to me; it is more than I can understand.

7 Where can I go to get away from your Spirit? Where can I run from you?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I lie down in the grave, you are there.

9 If I rise with the sun in the east and settle in the west beyond the sea,

10 even there you would guide me. With your right hand you would hold me.

11 I could say, "The darkness will hide me. Let the light around me turn into night."

12 But even the darkness is not dark to you. The night is as light as the day; darkness and light are the same to you.

13 You made my whole being; you formed me in my mother's body.

14 I praise you because you made me in an amazing and wonderful way. What you have done is wonderful. I know this very well.

15 You saw my bones being formed as I took shape in my mother's body. When I was put together there,

16 you saw my body as it was formed. All the days planned for me were written in your book before I was one day old.

17 God, your thoughts are precious to me. They are so many!

18 If I could count them, they would be more than all the grains of sand. When I wake up, I am still with you.

19 God, I wish you would kill the wicked! Get away from me, you murderers!

20 They say evil things about you. Your enemies use your name thoughtlessly.

21 Lord, I hate those who hate you; I hate those who rise up against you.

22 I feel only hate for them; they are my enemies.

23 God, examine me and know my heart; test me and know my nervous thoughts.

24 See if there is any bad thing in me. Lead me on the road to everlasting life.

1 I may speak in different languagesn of people or even angels. But if I do not have love, I am only a noisy bell or a crashing cymbal.

2 I may have the gift of prophecy. I may understand all the secret things of God and have all knowledge, and I may have faith so great I can move mountains. But even with all these things, if I do not have love, then I am nothing.

3 I may give away everything I have, and I may even give my body as an offering to be burned. But I gain nothing if I do not have love.

4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, and it is not proud.

5 Love is not rude, is not selfish, and does not get upset with others. Love does not count up wrongs that have been done.

6 Love is not happy with evil but is happy with the truth.

7 Love patiently accepts all things. It always trusts, always hopes, and always remains strong.

8 Love never ends. There are gifts of prophecy, but they will be ended. There are gifts of speaking in different languages, but those gifts will stop. There is the gift of knowledge, but it will come to an end.

9 The reason is that our knowledge and our ability to prophesy are not perfect.

10 But when perfection comes, the things that are not perfect will end.

11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I stopped those childish ways.

12 It is the same with us. Now we see a dim reflection, as if we were looking into a mirror, but then we shall see clearly. Now I know only a part, but then I will know fully, as God has known me.

13 So these three things continue forever: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love.