Psalms 137
1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.
When we [had been taken to] Babylonia, [far from Jerusalem], we sat down by the rivers there, and we cried when we thought about [the temple on] Zion [Hill in Jerusalem].
2 There on the willows we hung our harps,
On the willow trees [alongside the rivers] we hung our harps [because we did not want to play them any more because we were very sad].
3 for there our captors requested a song; our tormentors demanded songs of joy: “Sing us a song of Zion.”
The [soldiers] who had captured us [and taken us to Babylonia] told us to sing [for them]; they told us to (entertain them/make them happy), saying, “Sing for us one of the songs [that you previously sang in] Jerusalem!”
4 How can we sing a song of the LORD in a foreign land?
But [we thought], “We [are sad because we have been punished by Yahweh and brought to this] foreign land, so we cannot [RHQ] sing songs about Yahweh while we are here!”
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand cease to function.
If I forget about Jerusalem [APO], Iet my right hand wither [with the result that I will be unable to play my harp]
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!
Do not allow me to sing again [MTY], if I forget about Jerusalem, if I do not consider that Jerusalem causes me to be more joyful than anything else does.
7 Remember, O LORD, the sons of Edom on the day Jerusalem fell: “Destroy it,” they said, “tear it down to its foundations!”
Yahweh, [punish] the people of the Edom people-group for what they did on the day that the army of Babylon captured Jerusalem. Do not forget that they said, “Tear down all the buildings! Destroy them completely! Leave only the foundations!”
8 O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, blessed is he who repays you as you have done to us.
And you people of Babylon, you will certainly be destroyed! Those who punish you in return for what you did to us will be happy;
9 Blessed is he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.
they will take your babies and completely smash them on the rocks.
