Psalm 137, side by side
Two versions of the same chapter. Each row is one verse, so you can see how the wording changes.
1By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.
1By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
2There on the willows we hung our harps,
2We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.
3for there our captors requested a song; our tormentors demanded songs of joy: “Sing us a song of Zion.”
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.
4How can we sing a song of the LORD in a foreign land?
4How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a strange land?
5If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand cease to function.
5If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.
6May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem as my greatest joy!
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.
7Remember, O LORD, the sons of Edom on the day Jerusalem fell: “Destroy it,” they said, “tear it down to its foundations!”
7Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.
8O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, blessed is he who repays you as you have done to us.
8O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.
9Blessed is he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.
9Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.
Your pair of translations is remembered on this device for other chapters.