| New Living Translation (NLT) |
New International Version (NIV) |
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1 Beside the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept as we thought of Jerusalem.
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1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.
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2 We put away our lyres, hanging them on the branches of the willow trees.
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2 There on the poplars we hung our harps,
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3 For there our captors demanded a song of us. Our tormentors requested a joyful hymn: "Sing us one of those songs of Jerusalem!"
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3 for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"
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4 But how can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?
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4 How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?
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5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill upon the harp.
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5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget [its skill].
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6 May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I fail to remember you, if I don't make Jerusalem my highest joy.
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6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.
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7 O LORD, remember what the Edomites did on the day the armies of Babylon captured Jerusalem. "Destroy it!" they yelled. "Level it to the ground!"
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7 Remember, O LORD, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. "Tear it down," they cried, "tear it down to its foundations!"
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8 O Babylon, you will be destroyed. Happy is the one who pays you back for what you have done to us.
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8 O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us--
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9 Happy is the one who takes your babies and smashes them against the rocks!
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9 he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.
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| Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. (New Living Translation - The Bible Online) |
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide. (New International Version Bible Online) |
