The lamentation of the people of God in their captivity in Babylon.

¹ A Psalm of David: to Jeremiah. Above the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept, while we remembered Zion.¹

1. 136:1For Jeremias: For the time of Jeremias, and the captivity of Babylon.(Challoner)

² By the willow trees, in their midst, we hung up our instruments.

³ For, in that place, those who led us into captivity questioned us about the words of the songs. And those who carried us away said: “Sing us a hymn from the songs of Zion.”

⁴ How can we sing a song of the Lord in a foreign land?

⁵ If I ever forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten.

⁶ May my tongue adhere to my jaws, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem first, as the beginning of my joy.

⁷ O Lord, call to mind the sons of Edom, in the day of Jerusalem, who say: “Despoil it, despoil it, even to its foundation.”

⁸ O daughter of Babylon, have pity. Blessed is he who will repay you with your payment, which you have paid to us.¹

1. 136:8This first part can be read as: ‘O daughter of Babylon, have pity,’ or as: ‘O pitiable (miserable) daughter of Babylon.’(Conte)

⁹ Blessed is he who will take hold of your little ones and dash them against the rock.¹

1. 136:9Dash thy little ones, etc: In the spiritual sense, we dash the little ones of Babylon against the rock, when we mortify our passions, and stifle the first motions of them, by a speedy recourse to the rock which is Christ.(Challoner)