| English Standard Version | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. | 1By the rivers of Babylon-- there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion. |
| 2On the willows there we hung up our lyres. | 2There we hung up our lyres on the poplar trees, |
| 3For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” | 3for our captors there asked us for songs, and our tormentors, for rejoicing:" Sing us one of the songs of Zion." |
| 4How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land? | 4How can we sing the LORD's song on foreign soil? |
| 5If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! | 5If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. |
| 6Let 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! | 6May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem as my greatest joy! |
| 7Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem, how they said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations!” | 7Remember, LORD, what the Edomites said that day at Jerusalem:" Destroy it! Destroy it down to its foundations!" |
| 8O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us! | 8Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the one who pays you back what you have done to us. |
| 9Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock! | 9Happy is he who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rocks. |
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