Psalms 137
The Israelites, exiled in Babylon, mourn the loss of their homeland and struggle to sing joyful songs in a foreign land. They vow to remember Jerusalem and prioritize their loyalty to it above all else. The psalmist recalls the Edomites' role in Jerusalem's destruction and calls for God to remember their actions. The passage concludes with a curse on Babylon, wishing harm upon its people for their cruelty to the Israelites.
1By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.2There on the poplars we hung our harps,3for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"4How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?5If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill.6May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.7Remember, O LORD, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. "Tear it down," they cried, "tear it down to its foundations!"8O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us-9he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.
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