Psalm 137 - New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)

Psalm 137[a]

Sorrow and Hope in Exile

I

1 By the rivers of Babylon
there we sat weeping
when we remembered Zion.(A)
2 On the poplars in its midst
we hung up our harps.(B)
3 For there our captors asked us
for the words of a song;
Our tormentors, for joy:
“Sing for us a song of Zion!”
4 But how could we sing a song of the Lord
in a foreign land?

II

5 If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget.(C)
6 May my tongue stick to my palate
if I do not remember you,
If I do not exalt Jerusalem
beyond all my delights.

III

7 Remember, Lord, against Edom
that day at Jerusalem.
They said: “Level it, level it
down to its foundations!”(D)
8 Desolate Daughter Babylon, you shall be destroyed,
blessed the one who pays you back
what you have done us!(E)
9 [b]Blessed the one who seizes your children
and smashes them against the rock.(F)

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 137 A singer refuses to sing the people’s sacred songs in an alien land despite demands from Babylonian captors (Ps 137:1–4). The singer swears an oath by what is most dear to a musician—hands and tongue—to exalt Jerusalem always (Ps 137:5–6). The Psalm ends with a prayer that the old enemies of Jerusalem, Edom and Babylon, be destroyed (Ps 137:7–9).
  2. 137:9 Blessed the one who seizes your children and smashes them against the rock: the children represent the future generations, and so must be destroyed if the enemy is truly to be eradicated.

Cross references

  1. 137:1 : Ez 3:15; Lam 3:48.
  2. 137:2 : Is 24:8; Lam 5:14.
  3. 137:5 : Jer 51:50.
  4. 137:7 : Jer 49:7; Lam 4:21–22; Ez 25:12–14.
  5. 137:8 : Is 47:1–3; Jer 50–51.
  6. 137:9 : Hos 14:1.

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