Psalms 137:1-9

  • By the rivers of Babylon

    • No songs of Zion sung (3, 4)

    • Babylon to be devastated (8)

137  By the rivers of Babylon,+ there we sat. We wept when we remembered Zion.+   Upon the poplar trees in her* midst,We hung our harps.+   For there our captors asked us for a song,+Those mocking us wanted amusement: “Sing for us one of the songs of Zion.”   How can we sing the song of JehovahOn foreign soil?   If I should forget you, O Jerusalem,Let my right hand be forgetful.*+   Let my tongue stick to my palateIf I do not remember you,If I do not place Jerusalem aboveMy greatest reasons for rejoicing.+   Remember, O Jehovah,What the Eʹdom·ites said on the day Jerusalem fell: “Tear it down! Tear it down to its foundations!”+   O daughter of Babylon, who is soon to be devastated,+Happy will be the one who rewards youWith the treatment you inflicted on us.+   Happy will be the one who seizes your childrenAnd dashes them against the rocks.+

Footnotes

Referring to Babylon.
Or possibly, “wither.”