Psalm 137 (136)
Could I forget you, Jerusalem?
1 By the streams of Babylon,
we sat and then wept
as we remembered Zion.
2 When on the poplars
we hung our harps
3 our captors asked for song.
Our tormentors wanted songs of joy:
“Sing to us one of the songs of Zion!”
4 How could we sing the Lord’s song
in a strange and alien land?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
may my right hand fall useless!
6 May my tongue cleave to my palate
if I remember you not,
if Jerusalem is not the first of my joys.
7 Remember, Lord, the Edomites
– what did they do when Jerusalem fell?
They said, “Tear the city down,
tear it down to its foundations!”
8 O daughter of Babylon, you will be sacked
happy is he who repays you
and does to you what you have done to us!
9 Happy is who seizes your infants
and dashes them against the rocks!