Psalms 137
The Israelites, exiled in Babylon, mourn the loss of their homeland, Jerusalem, and struggle to sing joyful songs in a foreign land. They vow to remember Jerusalem and prioritize it above all else. The Israelites also call for God to remember the Edomites' role in Jerusalem's destruction and to punish Babylon for its cruelty. They express a desire for revenge against Babylon, including violence against its children.
1By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion.2On the willows there we hung up our lyres.3For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"4How shall we sing the LORD's song in a foreign land?5If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill!6Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy!7Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem, how they said, "Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations!"8O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us!9Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!
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