English Standard Version ESV
The Message Bible MSG
1 By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion.
1
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 English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
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.