| English Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. | 1By the rivers of Babylon we sit down and weep when we remember Zion. |
| 2On the willows there we hung up our lyres. | 2On the poplars in her midst we hang our harps, |
| 3For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” | 3for there our captors ask us to compose songs; those who mock us demand that we be happy, saying: "Sing for us a song about Zion!" |
| 4How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land? | 4How can we sing a song to the LORD in a foreign land? |
| 5If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! | 5If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand be crippled! |
| 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, and do not give Jerusalem priority over whatever gives me the most 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, O LORD, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. They said, "Tear it down, tear it down, right to its very foundation!" |
| 8O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us! | 8O daughter Babylon, soon to be devastated! How blessed will be the one who repays you for what you dished out to us! |
| 9Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock! | 9How blessed will be the one who grabs your babies and smashes them on a rock! |
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