Psalmorum 137

1 David Hieremiae super flumina Babylonis illic sedimus et flevimus cum recordaremur Sion

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

2 in salicibus in medio eius suspendimus organa nostra

There on the poplars we hung our harps.

3 quia illic interrogaverunt nos qui captivos duxerunt nos verba cantionum et qui abduxerunt nos hymnum cantate nobis de canticis Sion

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

4 quomodo cantabimus canticum Domini in terra aliena

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

5 si oblitus fuero tui Hierusalem oblivioni detur dextera mea

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

6 adhereat lingua mea faucibus meis si non meminero tui si non praeposuero Hierusalem in principio laetitiae meae

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 memor esto Domine filiorum Edom diem Hierusalem qui dicunt exinanite exinanite usque ad fundamentum in ea

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 filia Babylonis misera beatus qui retribuet tibi retributionem tuam quam retribuisti nobis

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

9 beatus qui tenebit et adlidet parvulos tuos ad petram

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