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.