Psalm 137

¹Alongside Babylon’s streams,

there we sat down,

crying because we remembered Zion.

²We hung our lyres up

in the trees there

³because that’s where our captors asked us to sing;

our tormentors requested songs of joy:

“Sing us a song about Zion!” they said.

⁴But how could we possibly sing

the LORD ’s song on foreign soil?

⁵Jerusalem! If I forget you,

let my strong hand wither!

⁶Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth

if I don’t remember you,

if I don’t make Jerusalem my greatest joy.

⁷LORD , remember what the Edomites did

“Rip it down, rip it down!

All the way to its foundations!” they yelled.

⁸Daughter Babylon, you destroyer,[#137.8 Sym, Tg, Syr; MT the devastated]

a blessing on the one who pays you back

the very deed you did to us!

⁹A blessing on the one who seizes your children

and smashes them against the rock!