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,

We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.

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

For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that made us wail [required] mirth, [saying, ] Sing us [one] of the songs of Zion.

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

How should we sing a song of Jehovah's upon a foreign soil?

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

If I forget thee, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget [its skill];

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!

If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to my palate: if I prefer not 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, against the sons of Edom, the day of Jerusalem; who said, Lay [it] bare, Lay [it] bare, down to its foundation!

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

Daughter of Babylon, who art to be laid waste, happy he that rendereth unto thee that which thou hast meted out to us.

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

Happy he that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the rock.