| Bible in Basic English (BBE) |
New International Version (NIV) |
|
1 By the rivers of Babylon we were seated, weeping at the memory of Zion,
|
1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.
|
|
2 Hanging our instruments of music on the trees by the waterside.
|
2 There on the poplars we hung our harps,
|
|
3 For there those who had taken us prisoners made request for a song; and those who had taken away all we had gave us orders to be glad, saying, Give us one of the songs of Zion.
|
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!"
|
|
4 How may we give the Lord's song in a strange land?
|
4 How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?
|
|
5 If I keep not your memory, O Jerusalem, let not my right hand keep the memory of its art.
|
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget [its skill].
|
|
6 If I let you go out of my thoughts, and if I do not put Jerusalem before my greatest joy, let my tongue be fixed to the roof of my mouth.
|
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.
|
|
7 O Lord, keep in mind against the children of Edom the day of Jerusalem; how they said, Let it be uncovered, uncovered even to its base.
|
7 Remember, O LORD, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. "Tear it down," they cried, "tear it down to its foundations!"
|
|
8 O daughter of Babylon, whose fate is destruction; happy is the man who does to you what you have done to us.
|
8 O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us--
|
|
9 Happy is the man who takes your little ones, crushing them against the rocks.
|
9 he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.
|
| The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain. (The Bible in Basic English Version 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) |
