Psalms 137

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

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

2 Upon the willows in the midst thereof we hanged up our harps.

There on the poplars we hung our harps.

3 For there they that led us captive required of us songs, and they that wasted us [required of us] mirth, [saying], Sing us one of the songs of Zion.

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 LORD’S song 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 forget [her cunning].

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

6 Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I remember thee not; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief 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, against the children of Edom the day of Jerusalem; who said, 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, that art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.

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

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

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