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

Psalms 137

1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat down; there we wept when we remembered Zion.

2 On the willows near by we hung up our harps.

3 Those who captured us told us to sing; they told us to entertain them: "Sing us a song about Zion."

4 How can we sing a song to the Lord in a foreign land?

5 May I never be able to play the harp again if I forget you, Jerusalem!

6 May I never be able to sing again if I do not remember you, if I do not think of you as my greatest joy!

7 Remember, Lord, what the Edomites did the day Jerusalem was captured. Remember how they kept saying, "Tear it down to the ground!"

8 Babylon, you will be destroyed. Happy are those who pay you back for what you have done to us -

9 who take your babies and smash them against a rock.

Psalms 138

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

2 I face your holy Temple, bow down, and praise your name because of your constant love and faithfulness, because you have shown that your name and your commands are supreme.

3 You answered me when I called to you; with your strength you strengthened me.

4 All the kings in the world will praise you, Lord, because they have heard your promises.

5 They will sing about what you have done and about your great glory.

6 Even though you are so high above, you care for the lowly, and the proud cannot hide from you.

7 When I am surrounded by troubles, you keep me safe. You oppose my angry enemies and save me by your power.

8 You will do everything you have promised; Lord, your love is eternal. Complete the work that you have begun.

Psalms 139

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

2 You know everything I do; from far away you understand all my thoughts.

3 You see me, whether I am working or resting; you know all my actions.

4 Even before I speak, you already know what I will say.

5 You are all around me on every side; you protect me with your power.

6 Your knowledge of me is too deep; it is beyond my understanding.

7 Where could I go to escape from you? Where could I get away from your presence?

8 If I went up to heaven, you would be there; if I lay down in the world of the dead, you would be there.

9 If I flew away beyond the east or lived in the farthest place in the west,

10 you would be there to lead me, you would be there to help me.

11 I could ask the darkness to hide me or the light around me to turn into night,

12 but even darkness is not dark for you, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are the same to you.

13 You created every part of me; you put me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you because you are to be feared; all you do is strange and wonderful. I know it with all my heart.

15 When my bones were being formed, carefully put together in my mother's womb, when I was growing there in secret, you knew that I was there -

16 you saw me before I was born. The days allotted to me had all been recorded in your book, before any of them ever began.

17 O God, how difficult I find your thoughts; how many of them there are!

18 If I counted them, they would be more than the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.

19 O God, how I wish you would kill the wicked! How I wish violent people would leave me alone!

20 They say wicked things about you; they speak evil things against your name.

21 O Lord, how I hate those who hate you! How I despise those who rebel against you!

22 I hate them with a total hatred; I regard them as my enemies.

23 Examine me, O God, and know my mind; test me, and discover my thoughts.

24 Find out if there is any evil in me and guide me in the everlasting way.

1 Corinthians 13

1 I may be able to speak the languages of human beings and even of angels, but if I have no love, my speech is no more than a noisy gong or a clanging bell.

2 I may have the gift of inspired preaching; I may have all knowledge and understand all secrets; I may have all the faith needed to move mountains - but if I have no love, I am nothing.

3 I may give away everything I have, and even give up my body to be burned - but if I have no love, this does me no good.

4 Love is patient and kind; it is not jealous or conceited or proud;

5 love is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable; love does not keep a record of wrongs;

6 love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth.

7 Love never gives up; and its faith, hope, and patience never fail.

8 Love is eternal. There are inspired messages, but they are temporary; there are gifts of speaking in strange tongues, but they will cease; there is knowledge, but it will pass.

9 For our gifts of knowledge and of inspired messages are only partial;

10 but when what is perfect comes, then what is partial will disappear.

11 When I was a child, my speech, feelings, and thinking were all those of a child; now that I am an adult, I have no more use for childish ways.

12 What we see now is like a dim image in a mirror; then we shall see face-to-face. What I know now is only partial; then it will be complete - as complete as God's knowledge of me.

13 Meanwhile these three remain: faith, hope, and love; and the greatest of these is love.