Bible Verses About Select Readings

With trumpets and the sound of the shofar, shout for joy before the king, ADONAI!

Let the sea roar, and everything in it; the world, and those living in it.

Let the floods clap their hands; let the mountains sing together for joy

before ADONAI, for he has come to judge the earth; he will judge the world rightly and the peoples fairly.

By the rivers of Bavel we sat down and wept as we remembered Tziyon.

We had hung up our lyres on the willows that were there,

when those who had taken us captive asked us to sing them a song; our tormentors demanded joy from us -"Sing us one of the songs from Tziyon!"

How can we sing a song about ADONAI here on foreign soil?

If I forget you, Yerushalayim, may my right hand wither away!

May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I fail to remember you, if I fail to count Yerushalayim the greatest of all my joys.

Remember, ADONAI, against the people of Edom the day of Yerushalayim's fall, how they cried, "Tear it down! Tear it down! Raze it to the ground!"

Daughter of Bavel, you will be destroyed! A blessing on anyone who pays you back for the way you treated us!

A blessing on anyone who seizes your babies and smashes them against a rock!

So remember your creator while you are young, before the evil days come, and the years approach when you will say, "They no longer give me pleasure";

before the sun and the light grow dim, also the moon and the stars; before the clouds return after the rain;

on the day when the guards of the house are trembling, and men of courage are bent over double; when the women stop grinding grain, because there are so few; when the women at the windows can no longer see out;

when the doors to the streets are kept shut; when the noise from the grain-mill fades; when a person is startled by the chirp of a bird, yet their singing is hard to hear;

when they will be afraid to go up a hill, and terrors will stalk the way, even though the almond tree is in bloom; when the locust can only drag itself along, and the caper berry has no [aphrodisiac] effect -because the person is headed for his eternal home, and the mourners are already gathering in the marketplace

before the silver cord is snapped the bowl of gold is cracked, the pitcher is shattered at the spring, the pulley is broken at the cistern,

the dust returns to earth, as it was, and the spirit returns to God, who gave it!

The desert and the dry land will be glad; the 'Aravah will rejoice and blossom like the lily.

It will burst into flower, will rejoice with joy and singing, will be given the glory of the L'vanon, the splendor of Karmel and the Sharon. They will see the glory of ADONAI, the splendor of our God.

Strengthen your drooping arms, and steady your tottering knees.

Say to the fainthearted, "Be strong and unafraid! Here is your God; he will come with vengeance; with God's retribution he will come and save you."

Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped;