Psalm 137:1-4
“By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yes, we wept, When we remembered Zion. On the willows in its midst, We hung up our harps. For there, those who led us captive asked us for songs. Those who plundered us demanded mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How can we sing Yahweh’s song in a foreign land?”
This psalm expresses the profound grief and longing of the Judeans exiled in Babylon, likely written sometime during or shortly after the Babylonian captivity (6th century BCE). It describes their inability to find joy or sing sacred songs while in a foreign land, under the harsh reality of their captors.
What does it mean to experience such profound sorrow that one cannot sing, and how might that shape one's ability to seek the 'welfare of the city'?