Al naharot Bavel
 sham yashavnu gam bachinu
 bezochrenu et Tsiyon.
  
 Al aravim betochah
 talinu kinoroteinu.
  
 Ki sham she'elnunu
 shoveinu divrei shir
 vetolaleinu simcha
 [bad word] lanu mishir Tsiyon.
  
 Ech nashir et shir Adonai
 al admat nechar.
  
 Im eshkachech [bad word] 
 tishkach yemini.
  
 Tidbak l'shoni l'chiki
 im lo ezkerechi
 im lo a'aleh et [bad word] 
 al rosh simchati.
  
 Zechor Adonai livnei Edom
 et yom [bad word] 
 ha'omerim [bad word] aru
 ad hay'sod ba.
  
 Bat Bavel hashedudah
 ashrei sheyeshalem lach
 et gemulech
 shegamalt lanu.
  
 Ashrei sheyochez venipets
 et olalayich el hasala.

By the rivers of Babylon,
 there we sat, sat and wept,
 as we thought of Zion.
  
 There on the poplars
 we hung up our lyres,
  
 for our captors
 asked us there for songs,
 our tormentors, for amusement,
 "Sing us one of the songs of Zion."
  
 How can we sing a song of the Lord
 on alien soil?
  
 I I forget you, O [bad word] 
 let my right hand wither;
  
 let my tongue stick to my palate
 if I cease to think of you,
 if I do not keep [bad word] in memory even
 at my happiest hour.
  
 Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites
 the day of [bad word] s fall;
 how they cried, "Strip her, strip her
 to her very foundations!"
  
 Fair Babylon, you predator,
 a blessing on him
 who repays you in kind what you have
 inflicted on us;
  
 a blessing on him who seizes your babies
 and dashes them against the stones!

Translation: Debra Gelber, Avi Pfeffer
Copyright © 1995–2009 San Francisco Bach Choir.