Psalms 137

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

By the waters of Babylon there we sat, and we wept at the thought of Zion.

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

There on the poplars 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 called for a song: our tormentors, rejoicing, saying: ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion.’

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

How can we sing the Lord’s song in the foreigner’s land?

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

If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand wither.

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 stick to the roof of my mouth, if I am unmindful of you, or don’t set Jerusalem above my chief 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 the Edomites, Lord, the day of Jerusalem’s fall, when they said, ‘Lay her bare, lay her bare, right down to her very foundation.’

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

Babylon, despoiler, happy are those who pay you back for all you have done to us.

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

Happy are they who seize and dash your children against the rocks.