I prayed, "Hear how they make fun of us, O God! Let their ridicule fall on their own heads. Let them be robbed of everything they have, and let them be taken as prisoners to a foreign land.

Don't forgive the evil they do and don't forget their sins, for they have insulted us who are building."

May the LORD remember the evil of his ancestors and never forgive his mother's sins.

May the LORD always remember their sins, but may they themselves be completely forgotten!

Remember, LORD, what the Edomites did the day Jerusalem was captured. Remember how they kept saying, "Tear it down to the ground!"

who take your babies and smash them against a rock.

Turn your anger on the nations that do not worship you and on the people who reject you. They have killed your people; they have destroyed us completely and left our country in ruins.

But, LORD, you know all their plots to kill me. Do not forgive their evil or pardon their sin. Throw them down in defeat and deal with them while you are angry."

Let the people of Zion say, "May Babylonia be held responsible for the violence done to us!" Let the people of Jerusalem say, "May Babylonia be held responsible for what we have suffered!"

For if such things as these are done when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?"

They shouted in a loud voice, "Almighty Lord, holy and true! How long will it be until you judge the people on earth and punish them for killing us?"

"He sent fire from above, a fire that burned inside me. He set a trap for me and brought me to the ground. Then he abandoned me and left me in constant pain.

We are sick at our very hearts and can hardly see through our tears,

Everyone's hands will hang limp, and everyone's courage will fail.

My sorrow cannot be healed; I am sick at heart.

I beg you, then, not to be discouraged because I am suffering for you; it is all for your benefit.