Psalm 137–138

PSALM 137

¹By the waters^o of Babylon, there we sat down and wept,

when we remembered Zion.

²On the willows^p there

we hung up our lyres.

³For there our captors

required of us songs,

and our tormentors, mirth, saying,

“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

⁴How shall we sing the Lord’s song

in a foreign land?

⁵If I forget you, O Jerusalem,

let my right hand wither!

⁶Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth,

if I do not remember you,

if I do not set Jerusalem

above my highest joy!

⁷Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites

the day of Jerusalem,

how they said, “Rase it, rase it!

Down to its foundations!”

⁸O daughter of Babylon, you devastator!^q

Happy shall he be who requites you

with what you have done to us!

⁹Happy shall he be who takes your little ones

and dashes them against the rock!

PSALM 138

A Psalm of David.

¹I give thee thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;

before the gods I sing thy praise;

²I bow down toward thy holy temple

and give thanks to thy name for thy steadfast love and thy faithfulness;

for thou hast exalted above everything

thy name and thy word.^r

³On the day I called, thou didst answer me,

my strength of soul thou didst increase.^s

⁴All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O Lord,

for they have heard the words of thy mouth;

⁵and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord,

for great is the glory of the Lord.

⁶For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly;

but the haughty he knows from afar.

⁷Though I walk in the midst of trouble,

thou dost preserve my life;

thou dost stretch out thy hand against the wrath of my enemies,

and thy right hand delivers me.

⁸The Lord will fulfil his purpose for me;

thy steadfast love, O Lord, endures for ever.

Do not forsake the work of thy hands.