137:1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.
137:2 There on the poplars we hung our harps,
137:3 for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
137:4 How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?
137:5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill.
137:6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.
137:7 Remember, O LORD, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. “Tear it down,” they cried, “tear it down to its foundations!”
137:8 O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us–
137:9 he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.
137:1 By the rivers of Babylon, / There we sat down; indeed, we wept / When we remembered Zion.
137:2 On the willows in the midst of it / We hung up our lyres,
137:3 For there our captors required of us songs, / And those who tormented us required of us mirth, saying, / Sing for us / One of the songs of Zion.
137:4 How can we sing the song of Jehovah / In a foreign land?
137:5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, / Let my right hand forget its skill.
137:6 Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth, / If I do not remember you, / If I do not prefer Jerusalem / Above my chief joy.
137:7 Remember, O Jehovah, / Against the children of Edom, / The day of Jerusalem, / Who said, Lay it bare! Lay it bare, / Down to its foundation!
137:8 O daughter of Babylon, who are to be devastated, / Happy will he be who repays you / The recompense of what you have rendered to us.
137:9 Happy will he be who seizes your little ones / And dashes them against the rock.