Psalmorum 137

1 David Hieremiae super flumina Babylonis illic sedimus et flevimus cum recordaremur Sion

By the rivers of Babylon we sat down and wept when we thought about Zion.

2 in salicibus in medio eius suspendimus organa nostra

On the poplars there we hung our harps.

3 quia illic interrogaverunt nos qui captivos duxerunt nos verba cantionum et qui abduxerunt nos hymnum cantate nobis de canticis Sion

There our captors required songs from us, and those who mocked us required us to be happy, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”

4 quomodo cantabimus canticum Domini in terra aliena

How could we sing a song about Yahweh in a foreign land?

5 si oblitus fuero tui Hierusalem oblivioni detur dextera mea

If I ignore the memory of you, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her skill.

6 adhereat lingua mea faucibus meis si non meminero tui si non praeposuero Hierusalem in principio laetitiae meae

Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I think about you no more, if I do not prefer Jerusalem more than my greatest delights.

7 memor esto Domine filiorum Edom diem Hierusalem qui dicunt exinanite exinanite usque ad fundamentum in ea

Call to mind, Yahweh, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. They said, “Tear it down, tear it down to its foundations.”

8 filia Babylonis misera beatus qui retribuet tibi retributionem tuam quam retribuisti nobis

Daughter of Babylon, soon to be destroyed— may the person be blessed, whoever pays you back for what you have done to us.

9 beatus qui tenebit et adlidet parvulos tuos ad petram

May the person be blessed, whoever takes and dashes your little ones against a rock.