Psalm 137
About Psalms
The Psalms are 150 songs and prayers, written over many centuries by David and others, and gathered into five books for Israel’s worship. Every human feeling is here: joy, fear, anger, grief, confusion and thanks. Many begin in trouble and end in trust. Jesus prayed them too, even on the cross, where He spoke the opening line of Psalm 22. Read them slowly. They are meant to be prayed, not only read.
Before you read Psalm 137Written by AI
A lament from exiles in Babylon who cannot sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land. It ends with one of the hardest lines in Scripture, a blessing on whoever dashes Babylon’s infants against the rocks. It is the raw cry of people who watched their city destroyed, handed over to God; Christians have wrestled with it in light of Jesus’ command to love our enemies.
By the Rivers of Babylon
By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.
There on the willows
we hung our harps,
for there our captors requested a song;
our tormentors demanded songs of joy:
“Sing us a song of Zion.”
How can we sing a song of the LORD
in a foreign land?
If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
may my right hand cease to function.
May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not exalt Jerusalem
as my greatest joy!
Remember, O LORD,
the sons of Edom on the day Jerusalem fell:
“Destroy it,” they said,
“tear it down to its foundations!”
O Daughter of Babylon,
doomed to destruction,
blessed is he who repays you
as you have done to us.
Blessed is he who seizes your infants
and dashes them against the rocks.