By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.There on the poplars we hung our harps,for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said,“ Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?
The new wine dries up and the vine withers; all the merrymakers groan.The joyful timbrels are stilled, the noise of the revelers has stopped, the joyful harp is silent.No longer do they drink wine with a song; the beer is bitter to its drinkers.