1 By the rivers of Babylon, there, we sat down, yea we wept—when we remembered Zion:

2 Upon the willows—in the midst thereof, hanged we our lyres:

3 For, there, our captors asked of us words of song, and our plunderers—gladness,—Sing us of the songs of Zion!

4 How shall we sing the song of Yahweh, on a foreign soil?

5 If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, Let my right-hand forget:

6 Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember thee! if I do not lift up Jerusalem above the head of mine own gladness.

7 Remember, O Yahweh, against the sons of Edom, the day of Jerusalem,—how they continued to say—Overthrow! Overthrow! unto the foundation within it.

8 O ruined daughter of Babylon,—how happy the man who shall repay thee thy dealing, wherewith thou didst deal with us!

9 How happy the man who shall snatch away and dash thy children against the crag.