Psalm 137

Exiles by Babylon's rivers, harps hung on willows, unable to sing for their captors. It's grief and homesickness and loyalty. Then the last verse, about dashing Babylon's infants against rocks, is one of the most disturbing lines in Scripture. It's the raw cry of people who watched their own children killed, asking for the exact repayment Babylon gave (compare Isaiah 13:16). It's in the Bible as an honest record of trauma brought to God, not as a command. The New Testament's answer to enemies is the cross and "Father, forgive them."

"By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion." (Psalm 137:1)