1 By the rivers of Babylon —
there we sat down and wept
when we remembered Zion.

2 There we hung up our lyres
on the poplar trees,

3 for our captors there asked us for songs,
and our tormentors, for rejoicing:
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”

4 How can we sing the Lord’s song
on foreign soil?

5 If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill.

6 May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not exalt Jerusalem as my greatest joy!

7 Remember, Lord, what the Edomites said
that day at Jerusalem:
“Destroy it! Destroy it
down to its foundations!”

8 Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is the one who pays you back
what you have done to us.

9 Happy is he who takes your little ones
and dashes them against the rocks.