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

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

2 There we hung up our lyres on the poplar trees,

3 for our captors there asked us for songs, and our tormentors, for rejoicing: "Sing us one of the songs of Zion."

4 How can we sing the Lord's song on foreign soil?

5 If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget [its skill].

6 May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem as my greatest joy!

7 Remember, Lord, [what] the Edomites said that day at Jerusalem: "Destroy it! Destroy it down to its foundations!"

8 Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the one who pays you back what you have done to us.

9 Happy is he who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rocks.

1 I will give You thanks with all my heart; I will sing Your praise before the heavenly beings.

2 I will bow down toward Your holy temple and give thanks to Your name for Your constant love and faithfulness. You have exalted Your name and Your promise above everything else.

3 On the day I called, You answered me; You increased strength within me.

4 All the kings on earth will give You thanks, Lord, when they hear what You have promised.

5 They will sing of the Lord's ways, for the Lord's glory is great.

6 Though the Lord is exalted, He takes note of the humble; but He knows the haughty from afar.

7 If I walk in the thick of danger, You will preserve my life from the anger of my enemies. You will extend Your hand; Your right hand will save me.

8 The Lord will fulfill [His purpose] for me. Lord, Your love is eternal; do not abandon the work of Your hands.

1 Lord, You have searched me and known me.

2 You know when I sit down and when I stand up; You understand my thoughts from far away.

3 You observe my travels and my rest; You are aware of all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue, You know all about it, Lord.

5 You have encircled me; You have placed Your hand on me.

6 [This] extraordinary knowledge is beyond me. It is lofty; I am unable to [reach] it.

7 Where can I go to escape Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence?

8 If I go up to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.

9 If I live at the eastern horizon [or] settle at the western limits,

10 even there Your hand will lead me; Your right hand will hold on to me.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light around me will become night"-

12 even the darkness is not dark to You. The night shines like the day; darkness and light are alike to You.

13 For it was You who created my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I will praise You, because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, and I know [this] very well.

15 My bones were not hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all [my] days were written in Your book and planned before a single one of them began.

17 God, how difficult Your thoughts are for me [to comprehend]; how vast their sum is!

18 If I counted them, they would outnumber the grains of sand; when I wake up, I am still with You.

19 God, if only You would kill the wicked- you bloodthirsty men, stay away from me-

20 who invoke You deceitfully. Your enemies swear [by You] falsely.

21 Lord, don't I hate those who hate You, and detest those who rebel against You?

22 I hate them with extreme hatred; I consider them my enemies.

23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns.

24 See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way.

1 If I speak the languages of men and of angels, but do not have love, I am a sounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

2 If I have [the gift of] prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so that I can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

3 And if I donate all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient; love is kind. Love does not envy; is not boastful; is not conceited;

5 does not act improperly; is not selfish; is not provoked; does not keep a record of wrongs;

6 finds no joy in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth;

7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for languages, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.

9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

10 But when the perfect comes, the partial will come to an end.

11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put aside childish things.

12 For now we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, as I am fully known.

13 Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.