By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.

We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.

There on the willows we hung our harps,

For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.

for there our captors requested a song; our tormentors demanded songs of joy: “Sing us a song of Zion.”

How shall we sing the LORD’S song in a strange land?

How can we sing a song of the LORD in a foreign land?

If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.

If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand cease to function.

If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.

May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem as my greatest joy!

Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.

Remember, O LORD, the sons of Edom on the day Jerusalem fell: “Destroy it,” they said, “tear it down to its foundations!”

O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.

O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, blessed is he who repays you as you have done to us.

Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.

Blessed is he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.