New International Version NIV
American Standard Version ASV
1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.
1
By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept, When we remembered Zion.
2 There on the poplars we hung our harps,
2
Upon the willows in the midst thereof We hanged up our harps.
3 for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
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For there they that led us captive required of us songs, And they that wasted us [required of us] mirth, [saying], Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
4 How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?
4
How shall we sing Jehovah's song In a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill.
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If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, Let my right hand forget [her skill].
6 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.
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Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, If I remember thee not; If I prefer not Jerusalem Above my chief joy.
7 Remember, LORD, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. “Tear it down,” they cried, “tear it down to its foundations!”
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Remember, O Jehovah, against the children of Edom The day of Jerusalem; Who said, Rase it, rase it, Even to the foundation thereof.
8 Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the one who repays you according to what you have done to us.
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O daughter of Babylon, that art to be destroyed, Happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee As thou hast served us.
9 Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.
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Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones Against the rock.
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.
The American Standard Version is in the public domain.