Add parallel Print Page Options

Psalm 137

Beside the Rivers of Babylon

Sorrow for Jerusalem

Beside the rivers[a] of Babylon,
there we sat, and, yes, we wept as we remembered Zion.
There we hung up our lyres on the willows,
because there our captors asked us for words of a song,
and our tormentors asked for a happy song:
“Sing for us one of the songs of Zion!”

Zeal for Zion

How can we sing a song of the Lord on foreign soil?
If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget how to play music.[b]
May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not exalt Jerusalem above my highest joy.

Zeal for God’s Vengeance

Remember the day of Jerusalem, O Lord,
against the descendants of Edom[c] who said,
“Tear it down, tear it down to its foundations!”
Daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed,
how blessed is the one who repays you
    with the same deeds you did against us.
How blessed is the one who seizes your children
and dashes them against the cliff.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 137:1 Many of the rivers were in fact canals running off the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
  2. Psalm 137:5 The words how to play music are supplied to clarify the point of reference.
  3. Psalm 137:7 This wording recalls the hostility between Jacob (called Israel) and Esau (called Edom).

Psalm 137

By the rivers of Babylon(A) we sat and wept(B)
    when we remembered Zion.(C)
There on the poplars(D)
    we hung our harps,(E)
for there our captors(F) asked us for songs,
    our tormentors demanded(G) songs of joy;
    they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”(H)

How can we sing the songs of the Lord(I)
    while in a foreign land?
If I forget you,(J) Jerusalem,
    may my right hand forget its skill.
May my tongue cling to the roof(K) of my mouth
    if I do not remember(L) you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem(M)
    my highest joy.

Remember, Lord, what the Edomites(N) did
    on the day Jerusalem fell.(O)
“Tear it down,” they cried,
    “tear it down to its foundations!”(P)
Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction,(Q)
    happy is the one who repays you
    according to what you have done to us.
Happy is the one who seizes your infants
    and dashes them(R) against the rocks.