| Holman Christian Standard Bible | NET Bible |
| 1By the rivers 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. |
| 2There we hung up our lyres on the poplar trees, | 2On the poplars in her midst we hang our harps, |
| 3for our captors there asked us for songs, and our tormentors, for rejoicing:" 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 can we sing the LORD's song on foreign soil? | 4How can we sing a song to the LORD in a foreign land? |
| 5If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. | 5If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand be crippled! |
| 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! | 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, LORD, what the Edomites said that day at Jerusalem:" Destroy it! Destroy it 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!" |
| 8Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the one who pays you back 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! |
| 9Happy is he who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rocks. | 9How blessed will be the one who grabs your babies and smashes them on a rock! |
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