| NET Bible | International Standard Version |
| 1By the rivers of Babylon we sit down and weep when we remember Zion. | 1There we sat down and cried— by the rivers of Babylon— as we remembered Zion. |
| 2On the poplars in her midst we hang our harps, | 2On the willows there we hung our harps, |
| 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!" | 3for it was there that our captors asked us for songs and our torturers demanded joy from us, "Sing us one of the songs about Zion!" |
| 4How can we sing a song to the LORD in a foreign land? | 4How are we to sing the song of the LORD on foreign soil? |
| 5If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand be crippled! | 5If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand cease to function. |
| 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. | 6May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I don't remember you, if I don't consider Jerusalem to be more important than my highest joy. |
| 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!" | 7Remember the day of Jerusalem's fall, LORD, because of the Edomites, who kept saying, "Tear it down! Tear it right down to its foundations!" |
| 8O daughter Babylon, soon to be devastated! How blessed will be the one who repays you for what you dished out to us! | 8Daughter of Babylon! You devastator! How blessed will be the one who pays you back for what you have done to us. |
| 9How blessed will be the one who grabs your babies and smashes them on a rock! | 9How blessed will be the one who seizes your young children and pulverizes them against the cliff! |
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