How Shall We Sing the Lord's Song?

¹By the waters of Babylon,

there we sat down and wept,

when we remembered Zion.

²On the willows1 there

we hung up our lyres.

³For there our captors

required of us songs,

and our tormentors, mirth, saying,

“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

⁴sHow shall we sing the Lord's song

in a foreign land?

⁵If I forget you, O Jerusalem,

tlet my right hand forget its skill!

⁶Let my utongue stick to the roof of my mouth,

if I do not remember you,

if I do not set Jerusalem

above my highest joy!

⁷Remember, O Lord, against the vEdomites

wthe day of Jerusalem,

how they said, x“Lay it bare, lay it bare,

down to its foundations!”

⁸O daughter of Babylon, ydoomed to be destroyed,

blessed shall he be who zrepays you

with what you have done to us!

⁹Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones

and adashes them against the rock!

Give Thanks to the Lord

Of David.

¹bI give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;

before cthe gods I sing your praise;

²I bow down dtoward your eholy temple

and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,

for you have exalted above all things

your name and your word.1

³On the day I called, you answered me;

my strength of soul you increased.2

⁴fAll the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O Lord,

for they have heard the words of your mouth,

⁵and they shall sing of gthe ways of the Lord,

for great is the glory of the Lord.

⁶hFor though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly,

but the haughty he knows from afar.

⁷iThough I walk in the midst of trouble,

you jpreserve my life;

you kstretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies,

and your lright hand delivers me.

⁸The Lord will mfulfill his purpose for me;

nyour steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.

Do not forsake othe work of your hands.