1BY the rivers of Babylon we sat down and wept
when we remembered Zion.
2 There on the poplars
we hung up our harps,
3 for our captors there asked us for songs,
and our tormentors, for rejoicing;
they demanded, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”
4 How will we sing the LORD’s song
while in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill.
6 If I do not remember you,
may my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not set Jerusalem
above my highest joy.
7 Remember, O LORD, what the Edomites did
on the day Jerusalem fell,
for they shouted, “Tear it down,
tear it down to its foundations!”
8 O daughter Babylon, who is to be destroyed,
happy will he be who repays you
for what you have done to us.
9 Happy will he be who seizes your little ones
and dashes them against the rocks.