1By the streams of Babylon,
we sat and then wept
as we remembered Zion.
2When on the poplars
we hung our harps
3our captors asked for song.
Our tormentors wanted songs of joy:
“Sing to us one of the songs of Zion!”
4How could we sing the Lord’s song
in a strange and alien land?
5If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
may my right hand fall useless!
6May my tongue cleave to my palate
if I remember you not,
if Jerusalem is not the first of my joys.
7Remember, Lord, the Edomites
– what did they do when Jerusalem fell?
They said, “Tear the city down,
tear it down to its foundations!”
8O daughter of Babylon, you will be sacked
happy is he who repays you
and does to you what you have done to us!
9Happy is who seizes your infants
and dashes them against the rocks!
