Psalms 137

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

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

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

There on the willows we hung our harps,

3 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.

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

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

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

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

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

6 If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to my palate: if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.

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!

7 Remember, O Jehovah, against the sons of Edom, the day of Jerusalem; who said, Lay [it] bare, Lay [it] bare, down to its foundation!

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

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

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

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

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