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.
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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!
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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!
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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! ”
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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!
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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!
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Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against 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
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.