Psalms 137 DBY
Summary: One of the Psalter's most emotionally raw psalms, an exiles' lament opening "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion" (v. 1), harps hung silent on the willows while captors mockingly demand "one of the songs of Zion" (v. 3). The exiles refuse, vowing never to forget Jerusalem — "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning" (v. 5) — and the psalm's tone darkens into a harsh imprecation against Edom and Babylon for their role in Jerusalem's fall. It closes with a shocking curse on Babylon's children (v. 8-9), among the starkest expressions of exile-era grief and rage found anywhere in scripture.
1By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down; yea, we wept when we remembered Zion.
2We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.
3For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that made us wail [required] mirth, [saying,] Sing us [one] of the songs of Zion.
4How should we sing a song of Jehovah's upon a foreign soil?
5If I forget thee, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget [its skill];
6If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to my palate: if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.
7Remember, O Jehovah, against the sons of Edom, the day of Jerusalem; who said, Lay [it] bare, Lay [it] bare, down to its foundation!
8Daughter of Babylon, who art to be laid waste, happy he that rendereth unto thee that which thou hast meted out to us.
9Happy he that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the rock.
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