| NET Bible | New International Version |
| 1By the rivers of Babylon we sit down and weep when we remember Zion. | 1By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. |
| 2On the poplars in her midst we hang our harps, | 2There on the poplars 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 there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!" |
| 4How can we sing a song to the LORD in a foreign land? | 4How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land? |
| 5If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand be crippled! | 5If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. |
| 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 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, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. They said, "Tear it down, tear it down, right to its very foundation!" | 7Remember, LORD, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. "Tear it down," they cried, "tear it 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 Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the one who repays you according to what you have done to us. |
| 9How blessed will be the one who grabs your babies and smashes them on a rock! | 9Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks. |
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