1 By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, ♦
when we remembered Zion.
2 As for our lyres, we hung them up ♦
on the willows that grow in that land.
3 For there our captors asked for a song,
our tormentors called for mirth: ♦
‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion.’
4 How shall we sing the Lord’s song ♦
in a strange land?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, ♦
let my right hand forget its skill.
6 Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you, ♦
if I set not Jerusalem above my highest joy.
7 Remember, O Lord, against the people of Edom
the day of Jerusalem, ♦
how they said, ‘Down with it,
down with it, even to the ground.’
8 O daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, ♦
happy the one who repays you
for all you have done to us;
9 Who takes your little ones, ♦
and dashes them against the rock.
Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England, material from which is included here,
is copyright © The Archbishops' Council 2000 and published by Church House Publishing.
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