- 1By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
- 2We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.
- 3For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
- 4How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a strange land?
- 5If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.
- 6If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.
- 7Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.
- 8O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.
- 9Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.
KING JAMES VERSION
PSALMS 137
Read the chapter, follow a linked verse, and continue into related Watchman 33 teaching.
CHAPTER VISUAL
Psalms 137 — Exiles weep for Zion, refuse coerced songs, and voice raw grief beneath the shadow of Babylon’s violence.
About this illustration
The image centers remembrance, displacement, and silenced music. The closing imprecation is acknowledged as anguished speech from conquest but is not visualized through harm to children or revenge.
Scripture basis: Psalms 137:1–9King James Version · Standardized 1769 text with Strong’s numbering · Public domain outside the United Kingdom
EXPLORE THE MESSAGE
Related Watchman 33 Resources
Archaeological Evidence
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEManuscript
Approximately 572–477 BC
Al-Yahudu Tablets of Judean Exiles
More than two hundred cuneiform contracts associated with Yāhūdu, ‘Judah-town,’ trace Judean deportees and their descendants through land tenure, taxes, debts, marriage, inheritance, and imperial service in sixth- and fifth-century BC Babylonia.
2 Kings 24:14–16 · 2 Kings 25:11–12 · Jeremiah 29:1–7
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEInscription
Late eighth–early sixth centuries BC, debated
The Khirbet Beit Lei Tomb Inscriptions
Incised prayers and drawings in a Judahite burial cave invoke YHWH and probably Jerusalem, preserving private religious expression while leaving their date, readings, and historical occasion disputed.
Psalms 122:1–9 · Psalms 137:1–6