Psalm 137

Lament over the Destruction of Jerusalem

 ¹  By the rivers of Babylon--
         there we sat down and there we wept
         when we remembered Zion.
 ²  On the willows^a there
         we hung up our harps.
 ³  For there our captors
         asked us for songs,
     and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,
         "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"

 ⁴  How could we sing the LORD's song
         in a foreign land?
 ⁵  If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
         let my right hand wither!
 ⁶  Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth,
         if I do not remember you,
     if I do not set Jerusalem
         above my highest joy.

 ⁷  Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites
         the day of Jerusalem's fall,
     how they said, "Tear it down! Tear it down!
         Down to its foundations!"
 ⁸  O daughter Babylon, you devastator!^b
         Happy shall they be who pay you back
         what you have done to us!
 ⁹  Happy shall they be who take your little ones
         and dash them against the rock!