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Psalm 137

Lament over the Destruction of Jerusalem

By the rivers of Babylon—
    there we sat down, and there we wept
    when we remembered Zion.(A)
On the willows[a] there
    we hung up our harps.
For there our captors
    asked us for songs,
and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,
    “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”(B)

How could we sing the Lord’s song
    in a foreign land?
If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
    let my right hand wither!
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.(C)

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Footnotes

  1. 137.2 Or poplars