Banzembo 137

1 Ezalaki biso ya kovanda pembeni ya bibale ya Babiloni, tozalaki kolela na tozalaki kokanisa Siona.

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.

2 Todiembikaki mandanda na biso na banzete ya pepiliye ya etuka yango.

There on the willows we hung our harps,

3 Kuna, bato oyo bamemaki biso na bowumbu bazalaki kosenga biso banzembo; mpe banyokoli na biso bazalaki kosenga biso ete tozala na esengo. Bazalaki koloba: « Boyembela biso banzembo ya Siona! »

for there our captors requested a song; our tormentors demanded songs of joy: “Sing us a song of Zion.”

4 Tokoyemba banzembo ya Yawe ndenge nini na mabele ya bapaya?

How can we sing a song of the LORD in a foreign land?

5 Oh Yelusalemi, soki nabosani yo, wana tika ete loboko na ngai ya mobali elemba!

If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand cease to function.

6 Soki natiki penza kokanisa yo, Yelusalemi, soki natie yo te liboso ya esengo nyonso, wana tika ete lolemo na ngai ekangama kati na monoko na ngai!

May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem as my greatest joy!

7 Yawe, kobosana te bato ya Edomi oyo basekaki Yelusalemi na mokolo na yango ya mawa; bazalaki koganga: « Bobuka yango, bobuka kino na miboko na yango! »

Remember, O LORD, the sons of Edom on the day Jerusalem fell: “Destroy it,” they said, “tear it down to its foundations!”

8 Babiloni, engumba kitoko, yo oyo okobebisama solo, esengo na moto oyo akozongisela yo mabe na mabe oyo osalaki biso!

O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, blessed is he who repays you as you have done to us.

9 Esengo na moto oyo akokanga bana na yo mpe akonika bango na libanga!

Blessed is he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.