¹BY THE rivers of Babylon, there we [captives] sat down, yes, we wept when we [earnestly] remembered Zion [the city of our God imprinted on our hearts].

²On the willow trees in the midst of [Babylon] we hung our harps.

³For there they who led us captive required of us a song with words, and our tormentors and they who wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.

⁴How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?

⁵If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill [with the harp].

⁶Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I remember you not, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy! [Ezek. 3:26.]

⁷Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites, that they said in the day of Jerusalem's fall, Down, down to the ground with her!

⁸O Daughter of Babylon [you devastator, you!], who [ought to be and] shall be destroyed, happy and blessed shall he be who requites you as you have served us. [Isa. 13:1-22; Jer. 25:12, 13.]

⁹Happy and blessed shall he be who takes and dashes your little ones against the rock!