The Psalms

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Chapter 137 :

Lament over the Destruction of Jerusalem

1 By the rivers of Babylon—
there we sat down and there we wept
when we remembered Zion.

2 On the willows there
we hung up our harps.

3 For there our captors
asked us for songs,
and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

4 How could we sing the LORD’s song
in a foreign land?

5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand wither!

6 Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
above my highest joy.

7 Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites
the day of Jerusalem’s fall,
how they said, “Tear it down! Tear it down!
Down to its foundations!”

8 O daughter Babylon, you devastator!
Happy shall they be who pay you back
what you have done to us!

9 Happy shall they be who take your little ones
and dash them against the rock!



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