Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

137 By the rivers of Babylon,
there we sat, yes, we wept,
when we remembered Zion.
² On the willows^[a] in her midst,
we hung up our lyres.
³ For there our captors asked of us
words of a song,
and our tormentors^[b] asked of us jubilation,
“Sing for us from a song of Zion.”
⁴ How could we sing the song of Yahweh
in a foreign land?^[c]
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget.^[d]
6 Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
if do not I exalt Jerusalem
above my highest joy.
⁷ Remember, O Yahweh, against the sons of Edom
the day of Jerusalem,
the ones who said, “Lay it bare! Lay it bare
to its foundation!”
⁸ O daughter of Babylon, about to be devastated,
happy shall be he who pays back to you
what you paid out to us.^[e]
9 Happy shall be he who seizes
and smashes your children
against the rock.

¹³ What can I say for you? What can I compare to you,
    O daughter of Jerusalem?
To what can I liken you so that I can comfort you,
    O virgin daughter of Zion?
For your destruction is as vast as the sea;
    who can heal you?
¹⁴ Your prophets had a vision for you,
    false and worthless;
they have not exposed your sin,
    to restore your fortune;
they have seen oracles for you,
    false and misleading.
¹⁵ They clap hands over you,
    all who pass along the way;
they hiss and they shake their head,
    at the daughter of Jerusalem.
Is this the city of which it is said,
    “A perfection of beauty, a joy for all the earth?”
¹⁶ They have opened their mouths against you,
    all your enemies.
They hiss and gnash a tooth,
    and they say, “We have destroyed her!
Surely this is the day we have hoped for;
    we have found it, we have seen it!”
¹⁷ Yahweh has done what he has planned;
    he has fulfilled his promise
that he ordained from the days of old;
    he has demolished and not shown mercy;
he has made an enemy rejoice over you,
    he has exalted the might^[a] of your foes.
¹⁸ Their heart cried to the Lord,
    “O wall of the daughter of Zion,
let tears stream down like a river;
    day and night,
do not give yourself relief,
    do not give your eyes rest.
¹⁹ “Arise, cry out in the night,
    at the beginning of the night watches;
pour out your heart like water,
    before the face of the Lord.
Lift to him your hands,
    for the life of your children,
who faint in starvation,
    at the head of all streets.”
²⁰ See, Yahweh, and take note!
    With whom have you dealt thus?
Should women eat their young
    children of tender care?
Should priest and prophet be slain
    in the sanctuary of the Lord?
²¹ They lie in the soil of the streets,
    young and old;
my young women^[b] and young men,
    they have fallen by the sword;
you have slain on the day of your anger,^[c]
    you have slaughtered and not shown mercy.
²² You have summoned my horror from all around,
    as if for a feast day;
no one on the day of Yahweh’s anger
    is a fugitive and a survivor;
whoever I have cared for and reared,
    my enemy has destroyed.