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Annotations & References
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Psalms 137
Psalms
Chapter 137
137
1By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept, When we remembered Zion.
2Upon the willows in the midst thereof We hanged up our harps.
3For there they that led us captive required of us songs, And they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
4How shall we sing Jehovah’s song In a foreign land?
5If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, Let my right hand forget her skill.
6Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, If I remember thee not; If I prefer not Jerusalem Above my chief joy.
7Remember, O Jehovah, against the children of Edom The day of Jerusalem; Who said, Rase it, rase it, Even to the foundation thereof.
8O daughter of Babylon, that art to be destroyed, Happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee As thou hast served us.
9Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones Against the rock.
What is Psalms 137 about?
Carried far from the temple, the exiles sit down by the rivers of Babylon and weep as they remember Zion, hanging their harps upon the willows. When their captors demand a song of Jerusalem, they ask how they can sing the LORD's song in a strange land, and vow that if they forget Jerusalem their right hand may forget its skill. The psalm then cries out against Edom and Babylon, calling on God to repay the destroyers of His city. Even in bitter grief and longing for justice, the singers cling to Jerusalem as the center of God's promises, refusing to let go of the hope He has set there.
Matthew Henry on Psalms 137