Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

137 We were sitting by the rivers of Babylon.
    We wept when we remembered what had happened to Zion.
² On the nearby poplar trees
    we hung up our harps.
³ Those who held us as prisoners asked us to sing.
    Those who enjoyed hurting us ordered us to sing joyful songs.
    They said, “Sing one of the songs of Zion to us!”

⁴ How can we sing the songs of the Lord
    while we are in another land?
⁵ Jerusalem, if I forget you,
    may my right hand never be able to play the harp again.
⁶ If I don’t remember you,
    may my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth so I can’t sing.
May it happen if I don’t consider Jerusalem
    to be my greatest joy.

⁷ Lord, remember what the people of Edom did
    on the day Jerusalem fell.
“Tear it down!” they cried.
    “Tear it down to the ground!”

⁸ People of Babylon, you are sentenced to be destroyed.
    Happy is the person who pays you back
    according to what you have done to us.
⁹ Happy is the person who grabs your babies
    and smashes them against the rocks.

¹⁶ “That’s why I am weeping.
    Tears are flowing from my eyes.
No one is near to comfort me.
    No one can heal my spirit.
My children don’t have anything.
    My enemies are much too strong for me.”

¹⁷ Zion reaches out her hands.
    But no one is there to comfort her people.
The Lord has ordered that
    the neighbors of Jacob’s people would become their enemies.
    Jerusalem has become impure among them.

¹⁸ Jerusalem says, “The Lord always does what is right.
    But I refused to obey his commands.
Listen, all you nations.
    Pay attention to how much I’m suffering.
My young men and women
    have been taken away as prisoners.

¹⁹ “I called out to those who were going to help me.
    But they turned against me.
My priests and elders
    died in the city.
They were searching for food
    just to stay alive.

²⁰ “Lord, see how upset I am!
    I am suffering deep down inside.
My heart is troubled.
    Again and again I have refused to obey you.
Outside the city, people are being killed by swords.
    Inside, there is nothing but death.

²¹ “People have heard me groan.
    But no one is here to comfort me.
My enemies have heard about all my troubles.
    What you have done makes them happy.
So please judge them, just as you said you would.
    Let them become like me.

²² “Please pay attention to all their sinful ways.
    Punish them as you have punished me.
    You judged me because I had committed so many sins.
I groan all the time.
    And my heart is weak.”