Psalm 137
Literal Standard Version
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 rivers of Babylon—There we sat, || Indeed, we wept when we remembered Zion.
2We hung our harps on willows in its midst.
3For there our captors asked us the words of a song, || And our spoilers—joy: “Sing to us of a song of Zion.”
4How do we sing the song of YHWH, || On the land of a stranger?
5If I forget you, O Jerusalem, my right hand forgets!
6My tongue cleaves to my palate, || If I do not remember you, || If I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy.
7Remember, YHWH, for the sons of Edom, || The day of Jerusalem, || Those saying, “Raze, raze to its foundation!”
8O daughter of Babylon, O destroyed one, || O the blessedness of him who repays to you your deed, || That you have done to us.
9O the blessedness of him who seizes, and has dashed your sucklings on the rock!
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