< Psalmorum 137 >

1 Psalmus David, propter Hieremiam. Super flumina Babylonis, illic sedimus et flevimus: cum recordaremur Sion:
When we sat down by the rivers of Babylon we wept as we remembered Zion.
2 In salicibus in medio eius, suspendimus organa nostra.
We hung up our harps on the willow trees.
3 Quia illic interrogaverunt nos, qui captivos duxerunt nos, verba cantionum: Et qui abduxerunt nos: Hymnum cantate nobis de canticis Sion.
For those who had taken us captive asked us for a song—our tormentors wanted us to sing a happy song from Jerusalem.
4 Quomodo cantabimus canticum Domini in terra aliena?
But how could we sing a song dedicated to the Lord in a pagan land?
5 Si oblitus fuero tui Ierusalem, oblivioni detur dextera mea.
If I forget Jerusalem, may my right hand forget how to play;
6 Adhaereat lingua mea faucibus meis, si non meminero tui: Si non proposuero Ierusalem, in principio laetitiae meae.
May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I don't remember you—if I don't consider Jerusalem my greatest joy.
7 Memor esto Domine filiorum Edom, in die Ierusalem: Qui dicunt: Exinanite, exinanite usque ad fundamentum in ea.
Lord, please remember what the people of Edom did on the day Jerusalem fell, the ones who said “Tear it down! Destroy it down to its foundations!”
8 Filia Babylonis misera: beatus, qui retribuet tibi retributionem tuam, quam retribuisti nobis.
Daughter of Babylon, you will be destroyed! Happy is the one who pays you back, who does to you what you did to us!
9 Beatus, qui tenebit, et allidet parvulos suos ad petram.
Happy is the one who grabs your children and smashes them against the rocks!

< Psalmorum 137 >