⁴ How can we sing the songs of the Lord^(I)
    while in a foreign land?
⁵ If I forget you,^(J) Jerusalem,
    may my right hand forget its skill.
⁶ May my tongue cling to the roof^(K) of my mouth
    if I do not remember^(L) you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem^(M)
    my highest joy.

⁷ Remember, Lord, what the Edomites^(N) did
    on the day Jerusalem fell.^(O)
“Tear it down,” they cried,
    “tear it down to its foundations!”^(P)
8 Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction,^(Q)
    happy is the one who repays you
    according to what you have done to us.
⁹ Happy is the one who seizes your infants
    and dashes them^(R) against the rocks.

³ Lord, what are human beings^(F) that you care for them,
    mere mortals that you think of them?
⁴ They are like a breath;^(G)
    their days are like a fleeting shadow.^(H)

⁵ Part your heavens,^(I) Lord, and come down;^(J)
    touch the mountains, so that they smoke.^(K)
6 Send forth lightning^(L) and scatter^(M) the enemy;
    shoot your arrows^(N) and rout them.
⁷ Reach down your hand from on high;^(O)
    deliver me and rescue me^(P)
from the mighty waters,^(Q)
    from the hands of foreigners^(R)
8 whose mouths are full of lies,^(S)
    whose right hands^(T) are deceitful.^(U)

⁹ I will sing a new song^(V) to you, my God;
    on the ten-stringed lyre^(W) I will make music to you,
¹⁰ to the One who gives victory to kings,^(X)
    who delivers his servant David.^(Y)

From the deadly sword^{(Z) 11} deliver me;
    rescue me^(AA) from the hands of foreigners^(AB)
whose mouths are full of lies,^(AC)
    whose right hands are deceitful.^(AD)

¹² Then our sons in their youth
    will be like well-nurtured plants,^(AE)
and our daughters will be like pillars^(AF)
    carved to adorn a palace.
¹³ Our barns will be filled^(AG)
    with every kind of provision.
Our sheep will increase by thousands,
    by tens of thousands in our fields;
¹⁴     our oxen^(AH) will draw heavy loads.^[b]
There will be no breaching of walls,^(AI)
    no going into captivity,
    no cry of distress in our streets.^(AJ)
15 Blessed is the people^(AK) of whom this is true;
    blessed is the people whose God is the Lord.

³ “May the day of my birth perish,
    and the night that said, ‘A boy is conceived!’^(B)
4 That day—may it turn to darkness;
    may God above not care about it;
    may no light shine on it.
⁵ May gloom and utter darkness^(C) claim it once more;
    may a cloud settle over it;
    may blackness overwhelm it.
⁶ That night—may thick darkness^(D) seize it;
    may it not be included among the days of the year
    nor be entered in any of the months.
⁷ May that night be barren;
    may no shout of joy^(E) be heard in it.
⁸ May those who curse days^[a] curse that day,^(F)
    those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.^(G)
9 May its morning stars become dark;
    may it wait for daylight in vain
    and not see the first rays of dawn,^(H)
10 for it did not shut the doors of the womb on me
    to hide trouble from my eyes.

¹¹ “Why did I not perish at birth,
    and die as I came from the womb?^(I)
12 Why were there knees to receive me^(J)
    and breasts that I might be nursed?
¹³ For now I would be lying down^(K) in peace;
    I would be asleep and at rest^(L)
14 with kings and rulers of the earth,^(M)
    who built for themselves places now lying in ruins,^(N)
15 with princes^(O) who had gold,
    who filled their houses with silver.^(P)
16 Or why was I not hidden away in the ground like a stillborn child,^(Q)
    like an infant who never saw the light of day?^(R)
17 There the wicked cease from turmoil,^(S)
    and there the weary are at rest.^(T)
18 Captives^(U) also enjoy their ease;
    they no longer hear the slave driver’s^(V) shout.^(W)
19 The small and the great are there,^(X)
    and the slaves are freed from their owners.

²⁰ “Why is light given to those in misery,
    and life to the bitter of soul,^(Y)
21 to those who long for death that does not come,^(Z)
    who search for it more than for hidden treasure,^(AA)
22 who are filled with gladness
    and rejoice when they reach the grave?^(AB)
23 Why is life given to a man
    whose way is hidden,^(AC)
    whom God has hedged in?^(AD)
24 For sighing^(AE) has become my daily food;^(AF)
    my groans^(AG) pour out like water.^(AH)
25 What I feared has come upon me;
    what I dreaded^(AI) has happened to me.^(AJ)
26 I have no peace,^(AK) no quietness;
    I have no rest,^(AL) but only turmoil.”^(AM)