Psalm 136, Catholic Public Domain Version
A Psalm of David: to Jeremiah. Above the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept, while we remembered Zion.
Psalmus David, Jeremiæ. Super flumina Babylonis illic sedimus et flevimus, cum recordaremur Sion.
- 2
By the willow trees, in their midst, we hung up our instruments.
In salicibus in medio ejus suspendimus organa nostra:
- 3
For, in that place, those who led us into captivity questioned us about the words of the songs. And those who carried us away said: “Sing us a hymn from the songs of Zion.”
quia illic interrogaverunt nos, qui captivos duxerunt nos, verba cantionum; et qui abduxerunt nos: Hymnum cantate nobis de canticis Sion.
- 4
How can we sing a song of the Lord in a foreign land?
Quomodo cantabimus canticum Domini in terra aliena?
- 5
If I ever forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten.
Si oblitus fuero tui, Jerusalem, oblivioni detur dextera mea.
- 6
May my tongue adhere to my jaws, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem first, as the beginning of my joy.
Adhæreat lingua mea faucibus meis, si non meminero tui; si non proposuero Jerusalem in principio lætitiæ meæ.
- 7
O Lord, call to mind the sons of Edom, in the day of Jerusalem, who say: “Despoil it, despoil it, even to its foundation.”
Memor esto, Domine, filiorum Edom, in die Jerusalem: qui dicunt: Exinanite, exinanite usque ad fundamentum in ea.
- 8
O daughter of Babylon, have pity. Blessed is he who will repay you with your payment, which you have paid to us.
Filia Babylonis misera! beatus qui retribuet tibi retributionem tuam quam retribuisti nobis.
- 9
Blessed is he who will take hold of your little ones and dash them against the rock.†
Beatus qui tenebit, et allidet parvulos tuos ad petram.
Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain · Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592)