By the Rivers of Babylon
1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. 2 There on the willowsa we hung our harps, 3 for there our captors requested a song; our tormentors demanded songs of joy: “Sing us a song of Zion.”
4 How can we sing a song of the LORD in a foreign land? 5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand cease to function. 6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem as my greatest joy!
7 Remember, O LORD, the sons of Edom on the day Jerusalem fell: “Destroy it,” they said, “tear it down to its foundations!”
8 O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, blessed is he who repays you as you have done to us. 9 Blessed is he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.
