psalm

Lament over the Destruction of Jerusalem

137 
By the waters[a] of Babylon,

there we sat down and wept,

when we remembered Zion.

On the willows[b] there

we hung up our lyres.

For there our captors

required of us songs,

and our tormentors, mirth, saying,

“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

How shall we sing the Lord’s song

in a foreign land?

If I forget you, O Jerusalem,

let my right hand wither!

Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth,

if I do not remember you,

if I do not set Jerusalem

above my highest joy!

Remember, O Lord, against the E′domites

the day of Jerusalem,

how they said, “Raze it, raze it!

Down to its foundations!”

O daughter of Babylon, you devastator![c]

Happy shall he be who requites you

with what you have done to us!

Happy shall he be who takes your little ones

and dashes them against the rock!

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 137:1 Heb streams
  2. Psalm 137:2 Or poplars
  3. Psalm 137:8 Or you who are devastated