< 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 wasted us required of us 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 shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange 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 her cunning.
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 the roof of my mouth; 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 Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase 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 art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.
9 Blessed is he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.
Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.