Revised Standard Version RSV
Good News Translation GNT
1 By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion.
1
By the rivers of Babylon we sat down; there we wept when we remembered Zion.
2 On the willows there we hung up our lyres.
2
On the willows near by we hung up our harps.
3 For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"
3
Those who captured us told us to sing; they told us to entertain them: "Sing us a song about Zion."
4 How shall we sing the LORD's song in a foreign land?
4
How can we sing a song to the Lord in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither!
5
May I never be able to play the harp again if I forget you, Jerusalem!
6 Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy!
6
May I never be able to sing again if I do not remember you, if I do not think of you as my greatest joy!
7 Remember, O LORD, against the E'domites the day of Jerusalem, how they said, "Rase it, rase it! Down to its foundations!"
7
Remember, Lord, what the Edomites did the day Jerusalem was captured. Remember how they kept saying, "Tear it down to the ground!"
8 O daughter of Babylon, you devastator! Happy shall he be who requites you with what you have done to us!
8
Babylon, you will be destroyed. Happy are those who pay you back for what you have done to us -
9 Happy shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!
9
who take your babies and smash them against a rock.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.