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By the Rivers of Babylon

(Ezekiel 1:1-3)

¹ By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.² There on the poplars we hung our harps,³ for there our captors requested a song; our tormentors demanded songs of joy: “Sing us a song of Zion.”⁴ How can we sing a song of the LORD in a foreign land?⁵ If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand cease to function.⁶ 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!

⁷ Remember, O LORD, the sons of Edom on the day Jerusalem fell: “Destroy it,” they said, “tear it down to its foundations!”⁸ O Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction, blessed is he who repays you as you have done to us.⁹ Blessed is he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.