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v1
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat, yes, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
v2
On the willows ^[Species of tree uncertain] in her midst, we hung up our lyres.
v3
For there our captors asked of us words of a song, and our tormentors ^[Only occurring once in the MT, this interpretation is uncertain. The LXX’s “carried us captive” is a guess. If related to the Hebrew root yll it might have the idea of “mockers/yammerers”] asked of us jubilation, “Sing for us from a song of Zion.”
v4
How could we sing the song of Yahweh in a foreign land? ^[Literally “a land of a foreigner”]
v5
If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget. ^[That is, how to play a musical instrument]
v6
Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if do not I exalt Jerusalem above my highest joy.
v7
Remember, O Yahweh, against the sons of Edom the day of Jerusalem, the ones who said, “Lay it bare! Lay it bare to its foundation!“
v8
O daughter of Babylon, about to be devastated, happy shall be he who pays back to you what you paid out to us. ^[Literally “with what you treated us”]
v9
Happy shall be he who seizes and smashes your children against the rock.