Psa 137 | LEB | STEP | By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat, yes, we wept, when we remembered Zion.

Psalms 137

Lament During the Babylonian Exile

1 By the rivers of Babylon,
there we sat, yes, we wept,
when we remembered Zion.
2 On the willows ^{▼▼Species of tree uncertain} in her midst,
we hung up our lyres.
3 For there our captors asked of us
words of a song,
and our tormentors ^{▼▼Only occurring once in the MT, this interpretation is uncertain. The LXX’s “carried us captive” is a guess. If related to the Hebrew root yll it might have the idea of “mockers/yammerers”} asked of us jubilation,
“Sing for us from a song of Zion.”
4 How could we sing the song of Yahweh
in ⌞a foreign land⌟? ^{▼▼Literally “a land of a foreigner”}
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget. ^{▼▼That is, how to play a musical instrument}
6 Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
if do not I exalt Jerusalem
above my highest joy.
7 Remember, O Yahweh, against the sons of Edom
the day of Jerusalem,
the ones who said, “Lay it bare! Lay it bare
to its foundation!”
8 O daughter of Babylon, about to be devastated,
happy shall be he who pays back to you
⌞what you paid out to us⌟. ^{▼▼Literally “with what you treated us”}
9 Happy shall be he who seizes
and smashes your children
against the rock.