Common English Bible CEB
English Standard Version ESV
1 Alongside Babylon's streams, there we sat down, crying because we remembered Zion.
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By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion.
2 We hung our lyres up in the trees there
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On the willows there we hung up our lyres.
3 because that's where our captors asked us to sing; our tormentors requested songs of joy: "Sing us a song about Zion!" they said.
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For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion! ”
4 But how could we possibly sing the LORD's song on foreign soil?
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How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?
5 Jerusalem! If I forget you, let my strong hand wither!
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If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill!
6 Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I don't remember you, if I don't make Jerusalem my greatest joy.
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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!
7 LORD, remember what the Edomites did on Jerusalem's dark day: "Rip it down, rip it down! All the way to its foundations!" they yelled.
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Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem, how they said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations! ”
8 Daughter Babylon, you destroyer, a blessing on the one who pays you back the very deed you did to us!
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O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us!
9 A blessing on the one who seizes your children and smashes them against the rock!
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Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2025