Prayers, Songs, Praises: Psalm 138

A Thankful Heart

Of David.

138:1 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 truth.
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 a distance.

7 If I walk into 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 faithful love endures forever;
do not abandon the work of your hands.

CSB

Prayers, Songs, Praises: Psalm 137

Lament of the Exiles

137:1 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 [The day Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians in 586 BC] 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.

CSB