Psalms 137

1 Upon the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept: when we remembered Sion:

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

2 On the willows in the midst thereof we hung up our instruments.

There on the willows we hung our harps,

3 For there they that led us into captivity required of us the words of songs. And they that carried us away, said: Sing ye to us a hymn of the songs of Sion.

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

4 How shall we sing the song of the Lord in a strange land?

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

5 If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten.

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

6 Let my tongue cleave to my jaws, if I do not remember thee: If I make not Jerusalem the beginning of my 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 Lord, the children of Edom, in the day of Jerusalem: Who say: Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.

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

8 O daughter of Babylon, miserable: blessed shall he be who shall repay thee thy payment which thou hast paid us.

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

9 Blessed be he that shall take and dash thy little ones against the rock.

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