| New Living Translation | Berean Standard Bible |
| 1Beside the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept as we thought of Jerusalem. | 1By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. |
| 2We put away our harps, hanging them on the branches of poplar trees. | 2There on the willows we hung our harps, |
| 3For our captors demanded a song from us. Our tormentors insisted on a joyful hymn: “Sing us one of those songs of Jerusalem!” | 3for there our captors requested a song; our tormentors demanded songs of joy: “Sing us a song of Zion.” |
| 4But how can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a pagan land? | 4How can we sing a song of the LORD in a foreign land? |
| 5If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget how to play the harp. | 5If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand cease to function. |
| 6May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I fail to remember you, if I don’t make Jerusalem my greatest joy. | 6May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem as my greatest joy! |
| 7O LORD, remember what the Edomites did on the day the armies of Babylon captured Jerusalem. “Destroy it!” they yelled. “Level it to the ground!” | 7Remember, O LORD, the sons of Edom on the day Jerusalem fell: “Destroy it,” they said, “tear it down to its foundations!” |
| 8O Babylon, you will be destroyed. Happy is the one who pays you back for what you have done to us. | 8O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, blessed is he who repays you as you have done to us. |
| 9Happy is the one who takes your babies and smashes them against the rocks! | 9Blessed is he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks. |
| Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. | This text of God's Word has been dedicated to the public domain. |
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