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Israel in a Strange Land

137 We sat down and cried by the rivers of Babylon when we remembered Zion. There upon the trees we put our harps. For those who held us there made us sing. And those who made it hard for us asked for joy. They said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”

How can we sing the song of the Lord in a strange land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget what it is able to do. May my tongue hold to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not honor Jerusalem above my highest joy.

O Lord, remember what the sons of Edom did on the day Jerusalem fell. “Knock it down,” they said, “Knock it down to the ground.” O daughter of Babylon, you who will be destroyed, how honored will be the one who pays you back for what you have done to us! How honored will be the one who catches your children and throws them against the rock!