English Standard Version ESV
The Message Bible MSG
1 By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion.
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Alongside Babylon's rivers we sat on the banks; we cried and cried, remembering the good old days in Zion.
2 On the willows there we hung up our lyres.
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Alongside the quaking aspens we stacked our unplayed 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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That's where our captors demanded songs, sarcastic and mocking: "Sing us a happy Zion song!"
4 How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?
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Oh, how could we ever sing God's song in this wasteland?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill!
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If I ever forget you, Jerusalem, let my fingers wither and fall off like leaves.
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!
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Let my tongue swell and turn black if I fail to remember you, If I fail, O dear Jerusalem, to honor you as my greatest.
7 Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem, how they said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations! ”
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God, remember those Edomites, and remember the ruin of Jerusalem, That day they yelled out, "Wreck it, smash it to bits!"
8 O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us!
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And you, Babylonians - ravagers! A reward to whoever gets back at you for all you've done to us;
9 Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!
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Yes, a reward to the one who grabs your babies and smashes their heads on the rocks!
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2025
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.