1
By the rivers of Babylon--
there we sat down and there we wept
when we remembered Zion.
2
On the willows 1 there
we hung up our harps.
3
For there our captors
asked us for songs,
and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,
"Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"
4
How could we sing the
in a foreign land?
5
If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand wither!
6
Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
above my highest joy.
7
Remember, O
the day of Jerusalem's fall,
how they said, "Tear it down! Tear it down!
Down to its foundations!"
8
O daughter Babylon, you devastator! 2
Happy shall they be who pay you back
what you have done to us!
9
Happy shall they be who take your little ones
and dash them against the rock!