137
By the Rivers of Babylon
(Ezekiel 1:1–3)
1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.
2 There on the willows *
we hung our harps,
3 for there our captors requested a song;
our tormentors demanded songs of joy:
“Sing us a song of Zion.”
4 How can we sing a song of the LORD
in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
may my right hand cease to function.
6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not exalt Jerusalem
as my greatest joy!
7 Remember, O LORD,
the sons of Edom on the day Jerusalem fell:
“Destroy it,” they said,
“tear it down to its foundations!”
8 O Daughter of Babylon,
doomed to destruction,
blessed is he who repays you
as you have done to us.
9 Blessed is he who seizes your infants
and dashes them against the rocks.
* 137:2 Or poplars