By the rivers of Babylon
1By the rivers of Babylon,
there we sat down and cried
when we remembered Zion.
2There we hung our lyres
in the poplar trees,
3because we were prisoners there,
and the people who had caught us
asked us to sing them a song.
The people who oppressed us
told us to be happy and
to sing them a song about Zion.
4But we could not sing
the song of the Lord in a strange land.
5Jerusalem, if I forget you,
then my right hand
must forget how to play the lyre.
6If I don't think about you,
then my tongue must stick to the top
of my mouth so that I can not sing.
Jerusalem must always be the city
that I love the most.
7Lord, remember
what the Edomite people did
when they destroyed Jerusalem.
They said: ‘Break down the walls.
Destroy them down to the foundations.’
8People of Babylon, your enemies
will come and destroy you.
I pray that the Lord will bless
the people who come to punish you
and do the same to you as you have done to us.
9Your enemies will kill
your babies against the rocks.
