How Shall We Sing the Lord's Song?

137 By the waters of Babylon,
    there we sat down and wept,
    when we remembered Zion.
On the willows[a] there
    we hung up our lyres.
For there our captors
    required of us songs,
and our tormentors, mirth, saying,
    “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

(A)How shall we sing the Lord's song
    in a foreign land?
If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
    (B)let my right hand forget its skill!
Let my (C)tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,
    if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
    above my highest joy!

Remember, O Lord, against the (D)Edomites
    (E)the day of Jerusalem,
how they said, (F)“Lay it bare, lay it bare,
    down to its foundations!”
O daughter of Babylon, (G)doomed to be destroyed,
    blessed shall he be who (H)repays you
    with what you have done to us!
Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones
    and (I)dashes them against the rock!

Give Thanks to the Lord

Of David.

138 (J)I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;
    before (K)the gods I sing your praise;
I bow down (L)toward your (M)holy temple
    and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,
    for you have exalted above all things
    your name and your word.[b]
On the day I called, you answered me;
    my strength of soul you increased.[c]

(N)All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O Lord,
    for they have heard the words of your mouth,
and they shall sing of (O)the ways of the Lord,
    for great is the glory of the Lord.
(P)For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly,
    but the haughty he knows from afar.

(Q)Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
    you (R)preserve my life;
you (S)stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies,
    and your (T)right hand delivers me.
The Lord will (U)fulfill his purpose for me;
    (V)your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.
    Do not forsake (W)the work of your hands.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 137:2 Or poplars
  2. Psalm 138:2 Or you have exalted your word above all your name
  3. Psalm 138:3 Hebrew you made me bold in my soul with strength

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