New Living Translation NLT
English Standard Version ESV
1 Beside the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept as we thought of Jerusalem.
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By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion.
2 We put away our harps, hanging them on the branches of poplar trees.
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On the willows there we hung up our lyres.
3 For our captors demanded a song from us. Our tormentors insisted on a joyful hymn: “Sing us one of those songs of Jerusalem!”
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For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion! ”
4 But how can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a pagan land?
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How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget how to play the harp.
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If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill!
6 May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I fail to remember you, if I don’t make Jerusalem my greatest joy.
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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 O LORD, remember what the Edomites did on the day the armies of Babylon captured Jerusalem. “Destroy it!” they yelled. “Level it to the ground!”
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Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem, how they said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations! ”
8 O Babylon, you will be destroyed. Happy is the one who pays you back for what you have done to us.
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O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us!
9 Happy is the one who takes your babies and smashes them against the rocks!
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Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!