Psalms 137

1 By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept, When we remembered Zion.

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

2 Upon the willows in the midst thereof We hanged up our harps.

There on the willows we hung our harps,

3 For there they that led us captive required of us songs, And they that wasted us [required of us] mirth, [saying], Sing us one of the songs of Zion.

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

4 How shall we sing Jehovah’s song In a foreign land?

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

5 If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, Let my right hand forget [her skill].

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

6 Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, If I remember thee not; If I prefer not 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, O Jehovah, against the children of Edom The day of Jerusalem; Who said, Rase it, rase it, Even to the foundation thereof.

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, that art to be destroyed, Happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee As thou hast served us.

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

9 Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones Against the rock.

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