English Standard Version ESV
New International Version NIV
1 By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion.
1
By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.
2 On the willows there we hung up our lyres.
2
There on the poplars we hung our harps,
3 For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"
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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 shall we sing the LORD's song in a foreign land?
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How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill!
5
If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill.
6 Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy!
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 Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem, how they said, "Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations!"
7
Remember, 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, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us!
8
Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the one who repays you according to what you have done to us.
9 Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!
9
Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.