Psalm 137

How Shall We Sing the Lord's Song?

1. By the waters of Babylon, 1 there we sat down and wept, 1 when we remembered Zion.

2. On the willows[a] there 2 we hung up our lyres.

3. For there our captors 3 required of us songs, 3 and our tormentors, mirth, saying, 3 “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

4. How shall we sing the Lord's song 4 in a foreign land?

5. If I forget you, O Jerusalem, 5 let my right hand forget its skill!

6. Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, 6 if I do not remember you, 6 if I do not set Jerusalem 6 above my highest joy!

7. Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites 7 the day of Jerusalem, 7 how they said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare, 7 down to its foundations!”

8. O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, 8 blessed shall he be who repays you 8 with what you have done to us!

9. Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones 9 and dashes them against the rock!

Footnotes:
a. Psalm 137:2: Or poplars