| King James Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. | 1Beside the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept as we thought of Jerusalem. |
| 2We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. | 2We put away our harps, hanging them on the branches of 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 demanded a song from us. Our tormentors insisted on a joyful hymn: “Sing us one of those songs of Jerusalem!” |
| 4How shall we sing the LORD'S song in a strange land? | 4But how can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a pagan land? |
| 5If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. | 5If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget how to play the harp. |
| 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 fail to remember you, if I don’t make Jerusalem 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. | 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!” |
| 8O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. | 8O Babylon, you will be destroyed. Happy is the one who pays you back for what you have done to us. |
| 9Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones. | 9Happy is the one who takes your babies and smashes them against the rocks! |
| King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com. | 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. |
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