New Living Translation NLT
Young's Literal Translation YLT
1 Beside the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept as we thought of Jerusalem.
1
By rivers of Babylon -- There we did sit, Yea, we wept when we remembered Zion.
2 We put away our harps, hanging them on the branches of poplar trees.
2
On willows in its midst we hung our harps.
3 For our captors demanded a song from us. Our tormentors insisted on a joyful hymn: “Sing us one of those songs of Jerusalem!”
3
For there our captors asked us the words of a song, And our spoilers -- joy: `Sing ye to us of a song of Zion.'
4 But how can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a pagan land?
4
How do we sing the song of Jehovah, On the land of a stranger?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget how to play the harp.
5
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, my right hand forgetteth!
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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My tongue doth cleave to my palate, If I do not remember thee, If I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief 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, Jehovah, for the sons of Edom, The day of Jerusalem, Those saying, `Rase, rase to its foundation!'
8 O Babylon, you will be destroyed. Happy is the one who pays you back for what you have done to us.
8
O daughter of Babylon, O destroyed one, O the happiness of him who repayeth to thee thy deed, That thou hast done to us.
9 Happy is the one who takes your babies and smashes them against the rocks!
9
O the happiness of him who doth seize, And hath dashed thy sucklings on the rock!
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Young's Literal Translation is in the public domain.