Psalm 137
American Standard Version (1901)
Chapter overview
Psalm 137 preserves exiles' grief, cultural pressure, fierce memory, and unresolved anger beside Babylonian rivers. Silenced harps embody refusal to turn sacred song into entertainment while Jerusalem lies lost and unforgotten.
ExileZionGriefMemory
1By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept, When we remembered Zion.
2Upon the willows in the midst thereof We hanged up our harps.
3For there they that led us captive required of us songs, And they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
4How shall we sing Jehovah’s song In a foreign land?
5If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, Let my right hand forget her skill.
6Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, If I remember thee not; If I prefer not Jerusalem Above my chief joy.
7Remember, O Jehovah, against the children of Edom The day of Jerusalem; Who said, Rase it, rase it, Even to the foundation thereof.
8O daughter of Babylon, that art to be destroyed, Happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee As thou hast served us.
9Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones Against the rock.
American Standard Version (1901) — Public Domain. Where these translations come from.