Psalms 137

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

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion.

2 There on the willows we hung our harps,

Upon the willows in the midst of it we hung up our harps.

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

For there those who led us captive required of us songs, and those who wasted us, mirth, saying, Sing for us one of the songs of Zion.

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

How shall we sing Jehovah's song in a foreign land?

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

If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget.

6 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!

Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember thee, if I do not prefer Jerusalem above my chief joy.

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

Remember, O Jehovah, the day of Jerusalem against the sons of Edom, who said, Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation thereof.

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

O daughter of Babylon, who is to be destroyed, happy shall he be who rewards thee as thou have served us.

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

Happy shall he be who takes and dashes thy little ones against the rock.