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 YHWH '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 YHWH, 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; joyful 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.

Joyful shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.