1BY the rivers of Babylon we sat down and wept as we remembered Zion.
2On the willow trees there we hung up our lyres,
3for there those who had carried us captive asked us to sing them a song, our captors called on us to be joyful: “Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”
4How could we sing the LORD's song in a foreign land?
5If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand wither away;
6let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my chief joy.
7Remember, LORD, against the Edomites the day when Jerusalem fell, how they shouted, “Down with it, down with it, down to its very foundations!”
8Babylon, Babylon the destroyer, happy is he who repays you for what you did to us!
9Happy is he who seizes your babes and dashes them against a rock.