1 THe rivers on of Babylon
there when we did sit down:
yea even then we mourned, when
we remembred Sion.
2 Our Harps we did hang it amid,
upon the willow tree.
3 Because there they that us away
led in captivity,
Requir’d of us a song, and thus
askt mirth: us waste who laid,
sing us among a Sion’s song,
unto us then they said
4 The lords song sing can we? being
5 in strangers land. Then let
loose her skill my right hand, if I
Jerusalem forget.
6 Let cleave my tongue my palate on,
if mind thee do not I:
if chief joys or’e I prize not more
Jerusalem my joy.
7 Remember Lord, Edom’s sons word,
unto the ground said they,
it rase, it rase, when as it was
Jerusalem her day.
8 Blest shall he be, that payeth thee,
daughter of Babylon,
who must be waste: that which thou hast
rewarded us upon.
9 O happy he shall surely be
that taketh up, that eke
thy little ones against the stones
doth unto pieces break.