An Experience of the Captivity.
1 By the rivers of Babylon, There we [captives] sat down and wept, When we remembered Zion [the city God imprinted on our hearts].
2 On the willow trees in the midst of Babylon We hung our harps.
3 For there they who took us captive demanded of us a song with words, And our tormentors [who made a mockery of us demanded] amusement, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”
4 How can we sing the Lord’s song In a strange and foreign land?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, Let my right hand forget [her skill with the harp].
6 Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth If I do not remember you, If I do not prefer Jerusalem Above my chief joy. [Ezek 3:26]
7 Remember, O Lord, against the sons of Edom, The day of [the fall of] Jerusalem, Who said “Down, down [with her] To her very foundation.”
8 O daughter of Babylon, you devastator, How blessed will be the one Who repays you [with destruction] as you have repaid us. [Is 13:1-22; Jer 25:12, 13]
9 How blessed will be the one who seizes and dashes your little ones Against the rock.