Psa 137 | HCSB | STEP | By the rivers of Babylon – there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion .

Psalms 137

Lament of the Exiles

1 By the rivers of Babylon –
there we sat down and wept
when we remembered ^{▼▼Zion: Originally a term for the fortified section of Jerusalem and then, by extension, used for the temple and the city of Jerusalem both in the present time and in the future}Zion. ^b
2 There we hung up our lyres
on the poplar trees, ^c
3 for our captors there asked us for songs,
and our tormentors, for rejoicing:
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion.” ^d

4 How can we sing the Lord’s song
on foreign soil? ^e
5 If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill. ^f
6 May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not exalt Jerusalem as my greatest joy! ^g

7 Remember, Lord, what the Edomites said
that day ^{▼▼The day Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians in 586 b.c.} at Jerusalem:
“Destroy it! Destroy it
down to its foundations!” ⁱ
8 Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is the one who pays you back
what you have done to us. ^j
9 Happy is he who takes your little ones
and dashes them against the rocks. ^k