Read the Bible

Israel in a Strange Land

¹ We sat down and cried by the rivers of Babylon when we remembered Zion. ² There upon the trees we put our harps. ³ For those who held us there made us sing. And those who made it hard for us asked for joy. They said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion."

⁴ How can we sing the song of the Lord in a strange land? ⁵ If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget what it is able to do. ⁶ May my tongue hold to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not honor Jerusalem above my highest joy.

⁷ O Lord, remember what the sons of Edom did on the day Jerusalem fell. "Knock it down," they said, "Knock it down to the ground." ⁸ O daughter of Babylon, you who will be destroyed, how honored will be the one who pays you back for what you have done to us! ⁹ How honored will be the one who catches your children and throws them against the rock!