New Century Version NCV
English Standard Version ESV
1 By the rivers in Babylon we sat and cried when we remembered Jerusalem.
1
By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion.
2 On the poplar trees nearby we hung our harps.
2
On the willows there we hung up our lyres.
3 Those who captured us asked us to sing; our enemies wanted happy songs. They said, "Sing us a song about Jerusalem!"
3
For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion! ”
4 But we cannot sing songs about the Lord while we are in this foreign country!
4
How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?
5 Jerusalem, if I forget you, let my right hand lose its skill.
5
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 do not remember you, if I do not think about Jerusalem as my greatest joy.
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!
7 Lord, remember what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. They said, "Tear it down! Tear it down to its foundations!"
7
Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem, how they said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations! ”
8 People of Babylon, you will be destroyed. The people who pay you back for what you did to us will be happy.
8
O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us!
9 They will grab your babies and throw them against the rocks. A psalm of David.
9
Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!