“By the rivers of Babylon,

There we sat down.

We wept,

When we remembered Zion.

On the willows there,

We hung up our lyres.

There our captors

Asked us for songs.

Our tormentors asked for mirth.

They said.

‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’”

Psalm 137, although untitled, is a psalm of captivity since they are sitting at the rivers in Babylon. They were weeping as they remembered Zion. They had hung up their lyres on the willow trees. However, their captors wanted to hear joyful songs. Their tormentors wanted them to sing the songs of Zion.