By the Rivers of Babylon

The Israelites were exiled to the land of Babylon when Judah was conquered by the Babylonians. This psalm describes the irony and sadness of the exiles in Babylon when their captors asked them to recite the joyful songs and music about their homeland Zion. The psalmist couldn't bear the memory of his beloved Jerusalem and so could not really sing of the joyous songs while they were forbidden to live in their own land.


Psalm 137

 1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
   when we remembered Zion.
2 There on the poplars
   we hung our harps,
3 for there our captors asked us for songs,
   our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
   they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
 4 How can we sing the songs of the LORD
   while in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, Jerusalem,
   may my right hand forget its skill.
6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
   if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem
   my highest joy.

 7 Remember, LORD, what the Edomites did
   on the day Jerusalem fell.
“Tear it down,” they cried,
   “tear it down to its foundations!”
8 Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction,
   happy is the one who repays you
   according to what you have done to us.
9 Happy is the one who seizes your infants
   and dashes them against the rocks.