1 B y rivers of Babylon -- There we did sit, Yea, we wept when we remembered Zion.

We sat down and cried by the rivers of Babylon when we remembered Zion.

2 O n willows in its midst we hung our harps.

There upon the trees we put our harps.

3 F or there our captors asked us the words of a song, And our spoilers -- joy: `Sing ye to us of a song of Zion.'

For those who held us there made us sing. And those who made it hard for us asked for joy. They said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”

4 H ow do we sing the song of Jehovah, On the land of a stranger?

How can we sing the song of the Lord in a strange land?

5 I f I forget thee, O Jerusalem, my right hand forgetteth!

If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget what it is able to do.

6 M y tongue doth cleave to my palate, If I do not remember thee, If I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy.

May my tongue hold to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not honor Jerusalem above my highest joy.

7 R emember, Jehovah, for the sons of Edom, The day of Jerusalem, Those saying, `Rase, rase to its foundation!'

O Lord, remember what the sons of Edom did on the day Jerusalem fell. “Knock it down,” they said, “Knock it down to the ground.”

8 O daughter of Babylon, O destroyed one, O the happiness of him who repayeth to thee thy deed, That thou hast done to us.

O daughter of Babylon, you who will be destroyed, how honored will be the one who pays you back for what you have done to us!

9 O the happiness of him who doth seize, And hath dashed thy sucklings on the rock!

How honored will be the one who catches your children and throws them against the rock!