Psalm 137
1By the rivers of Babylon,
there we sat,
sat and wept,
as we thought of Zion.
2There on the poplars
we hung up our lyres,
3for our captors asked us there for songs,
our tormentors, for amusement,
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”
4How can we sing a song of the Lord
on alien soil?
5If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand wither;
6let my tongue stick to my palate
if I cease to think of you,
if I do not keep Jerusalem in memory
even at my happiest hour.
7Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites
the day of Jerusalem’s fall;
how they cried, “Strip her, strip her
to her very foundations!”
8Fair Babylon, you predator,
a blessing on him who repays you in kind
what you have inflicted on us;
9a blessing on him who seizes your babies
and dashes them against the rocks!
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Credits
Reprinted from Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. Copyright 1985 by the Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 1.
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Engage with this Source
Related Guide
Ancient Israelite Prayer
Biblical Period
Ancient Israelite prayers and hymns appear in the book of Psalms and in some biblical prose narratives.
Related Guide
Writings: The Third Section of the Jewish Bible
10th–2nd Century BCE
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