Psalms 137

Berean Standard Bible

Chapter summary

Exiled Israelites sit and weep by the rivers of Babylon while remembering Zion, hanging their harps upon the willow trees. Their captors and tormentors demand that they sing joyful songs of Zion, but the exiles question how they can sing the LORD's song in a foreign land. The speaker vows that if they ever forget Jerusalem or fail to exalt it as their greatest joy, their right hand will lose its function and their tongue will cling to the roof of their mouth. The psalm recalls the day Jerusalem fell, noting the Edomites' cry to destroy the city down to its foundations. Finally, the text pronounces doom upon the daughter of Babylon and invokes a blessing upon anyone who repays Babylon for its deeds and dashes its infants against the rocks.

Summary automatically generated from the Bible text.

Words of Jesus in red

¹By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. ²There on the willows we hung our harps, ³for there our captors requested a song; our tormentors demanded songs of joy: “Sing us a song of Zion.” ⁴How can we sing a song of the LORD in a foreign land? ⁵If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand cease to function. ⁶May 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! ⁷Remember, O LORD, the sons of Edom on the day Jerusalem fell: “Destroy it,” they said, “tear it down to its foundations!” ⁸O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, blessed is he who repays you as you have done to us. ⁹Blessed is he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.

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Louis Segond 1910 and Berean Standard Bible: public domain. Cross references: open-cross-ref, Creative Commons BY 4.0.