TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
Today’s scripture reading is a Psalm full of sadness and bitterness. The southern kingdom of Israel called “Judah” has been defeated, captured, and exiled by Babylon. In their sadness the simply sat and wept, remembering in grief and sadness their homeland. To further humiliate them their captors made them perform their songs of joy. But, beware when you hurt God’s chosen people. The Lord’s wrath will be swift and vicious!
Psalm 137
1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.
2 There on the poplars
we hung our harps,
3 for there our captors asked us for songs,
our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
4 How can we sing the songs of the Lord
while in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill.
6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem
my highest joy.
7 Remember, Lord, what the Edomites did
on the day Jerusalem fell.
“Tear it down,” they cried,
“tear it down to its foundations!”
8 Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is the one who repays you
according to what you have done to us.
9 Happy is the one who seizes your infants
and dashes them against the rocks.