| King James Bible | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. | 1By the rivers of Babylon-- there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion. |
| 2We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. | 2There we hung up our lyres on the poplar trees, |
| 3For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. | 3for our captors there asked us for songs, and our tormentors, for rejoicing:" Sing us one of the songs of Zion." |
| 4How shall we sing the LORD'S song in a strange land? | 4How can we sing the LORD's song on foreign soil? |
| 5If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. | 5If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. |
| 6If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. | 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! |
| 7Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof. | 7Remember, LORD, what the Edomites said that day at Jerusalem:" Destroy it! Destroy it down to its foundations!" |
| 8O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. | 8Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the one who pays you back what you have done to us. |
| 9Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones. | 9Happy is he who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rocks. |
|
    |