Psalms 137

1 By the rivers of Babylon we were seated, weeping at the memory of Zion,

By the waters of Babylon there we sat, and we wept at the thought of Zion.

2 Hanging our instruments of music on the trees by the waterside.

There on the poplars we hung our harps.

3 For there those who had taken us prisoners made request for a song; and those who had taken away all we had gave us orders to be glad, saying, Give us one of the songs of Zion.

For there our captors called for a song: our tormentors, rejoicing, saying: ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion.’

4 How may we give the Lord's song in a strange land?

How can we sing the Lord’s song in the foreigner’s land?

5 If I keep not your memory, O Jerusalem, let not my right hand keep the memory of its art.

If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand wither.

6 If I let you go out of my thoughts, and if I do not put Jerusalem before my greatest joy, let my tongue be fixed to the roof of my mouth.

May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I am unmindful of you, or don’t set Jerusalem above my chief joy.

7 O Lord, keep in mind against the children of Edom the day of Jerusalem; how they said, Let it be uncovered, uncovered even to its base.

Remember the Edomites, Lord, the day of Jerusalem’s fall, when they said, ‘Lay her bare, lay her bare, right down to her very foundation.’

8 O daughter of Babylon, whose fate is destruction; happy is the man who does to you what you have done to us.

Babylon, despoiler, happy are those who pay you back for all you have done to us.

9 Happy is the man who takes your little ones, crushing them against the rocks.

Happy are they who seize and dash your children against the rocks.