Banzembo 137

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

By the waters of Babylon there we sat, and we wept at the thought of Zion.

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

There on the poplars 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 called for a song: our tormentors, rejoicing, saying: ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion.’

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

How can we sing the Lord’s song in the foreigner’s land?

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

If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand wither.

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 stick to the roof of my mouth, if I am unmindful of you, or don’t set Jerusalem above my chief 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 the Edomites, Lord, the day of Jerusalem’s fall, when they said, ‘Lay her bare, lay her bare, right down to her very foundation.’

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

Babylon, despoiler, happy are those who pay you back for all you have done to us.

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

Happy are they who seize and dash your children against the rocks.