Psalms 137

1 By rivers of Babylon — There we did sit, Yea, we wept when we remembered Zion.

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.

2 On willows in its midst we hung our harps.

There on the willows we hung our harps,

3 For there our captors asked us the words of a song, And our spoilers — joy: 'Sing ye to us of a song of Zion.'

for there our captors requested a song; our tormentors demanded songs of joy: “Sing us a song of Zion.”

4 How do we sing the song of Jehovah, On the land of a stranger?

How can we sing a song of the LORD in a foreign land?

5 If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, my right hand forgetteth!

If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand cease to function.

6 My tongue doth cleave to my palate, If I do not remember thee, If I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy.

May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem as my greatest joy!

7 Remember, Jehovah, for the sons of Edom, The day of Jerusalem, Those saying, 'Rase, rase to its foundation!'

Remember, O LORD, the sons of Edom on the day Jerusalem fell: “Destroy it,” they said, “tear it down to its foundations!”

8 O daughter of Babylon, O destroyed one, O the happiness of him who repayeth to thee thy deed, That thou hast done to us.

O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, blessed is he who repays you as you have done to us.

9 O the happiness of him who doth seize, And hath dashed thy sucklings on the rock!

Blessed is he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.