An Experience of the Captivity.

1 By the rivers of Babylon,
          There we sat down and wept,
          When we remembered Zion.

2 Upon the willows in the midst of it
          We hung our harps.

3 For there our captors demanded of us songs,
          And our tormentors mirth, saying,
          “Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”

4 How can we sing the LORD’S song
          In a foreign land?

5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
          May my right hand forget her skill.

6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
          If I do not remember you,
          If I do not exalt Jerusalem
          Above my chief joy.

7 Remember, O LORD, against the sons of Edom
          The day of Jerusalem,
          Who said, “Raze it, raze it
          To its very foundation.”

8 O daughter of Babylon, you devastated one,
          How blessed will be the one who repays you
          With the recompense with which you have repaid us.

9 How blessed will be the one who seizes and dashes your little ones
          Against the rock.