Psalms 137

Lament During the Babylonian Exile

¹By the rivers of Babylon,

there we sat, yes, we wept,

when we remembered Zion.

²On the willows in her midst,[#Species of tree uncertain]

we hung up our lyres.

³For there our captors asked of us

words of a song,

and our tormentors asked of us jubilation,

“Sing for us from a song of Zion.”

⁴How could we sing the song of Yahweh

in a foreign land?

⁵If I forget you, O Jerusalem,

let my right hand forget.

⁶Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth,

if I do not remember you,

if do not I exalt Jerusalem

above my highest joy.

⁷Remember, O Yahweh, against the sons of Edom

the day of Jerusalem,

the ones who said, “Lay it bare! Lay it bare

to its foundation!”

⁸O daughter of Babylon, about to be devastated,

happy shall be he who pays back to you

what you paid out to us.

⁹Happy shall be he who seizes

and smashes your children

against the rock.