Psalms

Chapter 137

1 By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and cried when we thought of Zion.

2 We hung our harps on the willow trees there.

3 There, our captors asked us for a song; and our tormentors asked for joy, saying, “Sing us one of the Zion songs.”

4 How can we sing God’s song in a foreign place?

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

6 If I don’t remember you, may my tongue stick to the top of my mouth; if I don’t value Jerusalem more than my greatest happiness.

7 God, remember the people of Edom and what they did when Jerusalem fell; they said, “Tear it down, tear it down, to its very foundation.”

8 O daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction; happy will he be who repays you for what you have done to us.

9 He will be happy who takes your babies and smashes them against the rocks.