| English Standard Version | New International Version |
| 1By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. | 1By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. |
| 2On the willows there we hung up our lyres. | 2There on the poplars we hung 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 asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, "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 songs of the LORD while in a foreign land? |
| 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 cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest 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 did on the day Jerusalem fell. "Tear it down," they cried, "tear 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 repays you according to what you have done to us. |
| 9Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock! | 9Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks. |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. |
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