Psalms 137

Psalm 137

Lament over the Destruction of Jerusalem

1By the rivers of Babylon—[#Neh 1.4; Ezek 1.1, 3]

there we sat down, and there we wept

when we remembered Zion.

2On the willows there[#137.2 Or poplars]

we hung up our harps.

3For there our captors[#Ps 80.6]

asked us for songs,

and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,

“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

4How could we sing the Lord ’s song

in a foreign land?

5If I forget you, O Jerusalem,

let my right hand wither!

6Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth,[#Ezek 3.26]

if I do not remember you,

if I do not set Jerusalem

above my highest joy.

7Remember, O Lord , against the Edomites[#Jer 49.7; Lam 4.22; Ezek 25.12; Ob 10–14]

the day of Jerusalem’s fall,

how they said, “Tear it down! Tear it down!

Down to its foundations!”

8O daughter Babylon, you devastator![#Isa 13.1, 6; Jer 25.12; 50.15; Rev 18.6; #137.8 Or you who are devastated]

Happy shall they be who pay you back

what you have done to us!

9Happy shall they be who take your little ones[#2 Kings 8.12; Isa 13.16]

and dash them against the rock!

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, copyright © 2021 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Published by: National Council of the Churches of Christ