Waiata 137

1 I te taha o nga wai o Papurona, noho ana tatou i reira, ae, tangi ana tatou, ia tatou i mahara ai ki Hiona.

By the rivers of Babylon, there, we sat down, yea we wept—when we remembered Zion:

2 Whakairia ake e tatou a tatou hapa ki runga ki nga wirou i waenganui o reira.

Upon the willows—in the midst thereof, hanged we our lyres:

3 No te mea i tono i reira te hunga nana tatou i herehere ki etahi waiata i a tatou, me te hunga nana tatou i tukino i tono mai he hari i a tatou, i mea mai, Waiatatia mai ki a matou tetahi o nga waiate o Hiona.

For, there, our captors asked of us words of song, and our plunderers—gladness, —Sing us of the songs of Zion!

4 Me pehea matou ka waiata ai i te waiata a Ihowa i te whenua tauhou?

How shall we sing the song of Yahweh, on a foreign soil?

5 Ki te wareware ahau ki a koe, e Hiruharama, kia wareware toku ringa matau ki tana mahi.

If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, Let my right-hand forget:

6 Ki te kore ahau e mahara ki a koe, kia piri toku arero ki toku ngao; ki te kore ahau e whakanui i Hiruharama ki runga ake i taku mea i tino hari ai.

Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember thee! if I do not lift up Jerusalem above the head of mine own gladness.

7 E Ihowa, maharatia nga tama a Eroma i te ra o Hiruharama; ta ratou meatanga, Whakahoroa, whakahoroa, a taea rawatia ano tona turanga.

Remember, O Yahweh, against the sons of Edom, the day of Jerusalem, —how they continued to say—Overthrow! Overthrow! unto the foundation within it.

8 E te tamahine o Papurona, meake nei whakangaromia, ka hari te tangata e utua ai koe mo tau i mea ai ki a matou.

O ruined daughter of Babylon, —how happy the man who shall repay thee thy dealing, wherewith thou didst deal with us!

9 Ka hari te tangata e hopu ana, e ta ana i au mea nohinohi ki runga ki te kohatu.

How happy the man who shall snatch away and dash thy children against the crag.