King James Version
Psalms 137
9 verses with commentary
By the Waters of Babylon
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept</strong> (עַל נַהֲרוֹת בָּבֶל שָׁם יָשַׁבְנוּ גַּם־בָּכִינוּ)—Geography becomes theology. The exiles sit by Babylon's irrigation canals (<em>neharot</em>)—life-giving waters in a foreign land that mock their thirst for Zion. <em>Yashavnu</em> (we sat) suggests defeated posture, not resting but mourning. <em>Bakhinu</em> (we wept) is...
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(1) **By the rivers **. . .—Mentioned as the characteristic feature of the country, as we say “among the mountains of Wales.” The canals which irrigated Babylonia made it what an ancient writer called it, the greatest of “cities of river places.”
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**12-15. few ... in number--**alluding to Jacob's words (Ge 34:30), "I being few in number."
**yea, very few--**literally, "as a few," that is, like fewness itself (compare Is 1:9).
**strangers--**sojourners in the land of their future inheritance, as in a strange country (He 11:9).
We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof</strong> (עַל־עֲרָבִים בְּתוֹכָהּ תָּלִינוּ כִּנֹּרוֹתֵינוּ)—The instruments of worship become silent memorials. <em>Kinnor</em> (lyre/harp) accompanied temple praise; hanging them on <em>aravim</em> (willows/poplars) along Babylonian canals symbolizes worship's suspension. Not destroyed but dormant—hope's stubborn refusal to adapt....
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **Willows.**—It is perhaps not necessary to attempt to identify the trees mentioned in this verse, since the touching picture may only be a poetical way of expressing the silence during the exile of all the religious and festal songs. The ‘*ereb’ *is certainly not the *willow, *a tree not found in Babylonia, but the *poplar *(*Populus Euphraticus*)*.*
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**12-15. few ... in number--**alluding to Jacob's words (Ge 34:30), "I being few in number."
**yea, very few--**literally, "as a few," that is, like fewness itself (compare Is 1:9).
**strangers--**sojourners in the land of their future inheritance, as in a strange country (He 11:9).
For 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. a song: Heb. the words of a song wasted: Heb. laid us on heaps
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song</strong> (כִּי שָׁם שְׁאֵלוּנוּ שׁוֹבֵינוּ דִּבְרֵי־שִׁיר)—The captors demand entertainment from captives. <em>Shovenu</em> (those who took us captive) becomes <em>shoalunu</em> (asked/required of us)—forced performance. <strong>And they that wasted us required of us mirth</strong> (וְתוֹלָלֵינוּ שִׂמְחָה)—<em>tolalenu</em> ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **A song.**—See margin. The expression is generally regarded as pleonastic, but may be explained as in Psalm 105:27, where see Note. Perhaps “some lyric thing” would express the original. No doubt it is a Levite who is requested to sing.
**They that wasted us.**—A peculiar Hebrew word which the LXX. and Vulg. take as synonymous with the verb in the first clause. The modern explanation, “they t...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**12-15. few ... in number--**alluding to Jacob's words (Ge 34:30), "I being few in number."
**yea, very few--**literally, "as a few," that is, like fewness itself (compare Is 1:9).
**strangers--**sojourners in the land of their future inheritance, as in a strange country (He 11:9).
How shall we sing the LORD'S song in a strange land? strange: Heb. land of a stranger?
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>How shall we sing the LORD'S song in a strange land?</strong> (אֵיךְ נָשִׁיר אֶת־שִׁיר־יְהוָה עַל אַדְמַת נֵכָר)—The rhetorical question expresses impossibility, not mere difficulty. <em>Eikh</em> (how/in what manner) introduces lament elsewhere (Lamentations begins with this word). <strong>The LORD'S song</strong> (שִׁיר־יְהוָה) belongs to Yahweh and His sanctuary. <strong>In a strange la...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **Strange land.—**The feeling expressed in this question is too natural to need any such explanation as that it was contrary to the Law to sing a sacred song in a strange land. Nehemiah’s answer (Nehemiah 2:2-3) offers a direct illustration.
Of Jerusalem’s choir in Babylon it might truly be said:
“Like strangers’ voices here they sound,
In lands where not a memory strays.
Nor landmark breathes...
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16. God ordered the famine. God
**called for a famine--**as if it were a servant, ready to come at God's bidding. Compare the centurion's words, as to disease being God's servant (Mt 8:8, 9).
**upon the land--**namely, Canaan (Ge 41:54).
**staff of bread--**what supports life (Le 26:26; Psa 104:15; Is 3:1).
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning</strong> (אִם־אֶשְׁכָּחֵךְ יְרוּשָׁלִָם תִּשְׁכַּח יְמִינִי)—A self-maledictory oath. <em>Shakach</em> (forget) appears twice: if the psalmist forgets Jerusalem, may his right hand forget its skill. <em>Yemin</em> (right hand) represents strength, ability, craftsmanship—for a musician or scribe, professional capacity. <str...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **Her cunning**—*i.e., *the skill of playing on the harp. If at such a moment the poet can so far forget the miserable bondage of Jerusalem as to strike the strings in joy, may his hand for ever lose the skill to touch them.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
17-21. Joseph was sent of God (Ge 45:5).
If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. my chief: Heb. the head of my joy
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth</strong> (תִּדְבַּק־לְשׁוֹנִי לְחִכִּי אִם־לֹא אֶזְכְּרֵכִי)—<em>Davaq</em> (cling/cleave/stick) describes the tongue adhering to the palate, making speech impossible. The musician who won't sing Zion's songs improperly may he lose the capacity to sing at all. <strong>If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy</stron...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
17-21. Joseph was sent of God (Ge 45:5).
Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof. Rase it: Heb. Make bare
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem</strong> (זְכֹר יְהוָה לִבְנֵי אֱדוֹם אֵת יוֹם יְרוּשָׁלִָם)—The imprecatory cry for justice. <em>Zakhor</em> (remember) invokes God's attention to Edom's betrayal. <em>Yom Yerushalaim</em> (the day of Jerusalem) refers to 586 BC when Babylon destroyed the city. <strong>Who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof...
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(7) **Remember **. . .—*Remember, Jehovah, for the children of Edom the day of Jerusalem. *The prophecy of Obadiah gives the best comment on this verse: “For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever. In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
17-21. Joseph was sent of God (Ge 45:5).
O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. destroyed: Heb. wasted rewardeth: Heb. recompenseth unto thee thy deed which thou didst to us
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.</strong> This imprecatory psalm verse expresses intense desire for divine justice against Babylon. "Daughter of Babylon" (<em>bat-bavel</em>, בַּת־בָּבֶל) personifies the city and empire as a woman, a common biblical metaphor (Isaiah 47:1). "Who art to be destroyed" (<em>hasheduda...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **Daughter of Babylon—**i.e., Babylon itself. (See Psalm 9:14, Note.)
**Who art to** **be destroyed.—**Considerable doubt attaches to the meaning of the Hebrew word here. Our version is that of Theodotion. Aquila and Jerome have “wasted” (comp. Prayer Book version); Symmachus, “robber;” the LXX. and Vulg., “wretched.”
As pointed, the word is a passive participle, and must be rendered as by Aqu...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
17-21. Joseph was sent of God (Ge 45:5).
Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones. the stones: Heb. the rock
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones</strong>. Scripture's most disturbing verse, expressing raw rage against Babylon. Context: Psalm 137 laments exile, remembering Babylon's brutal child-killing (Lamentations 2:19-21). This invokes lex talionis: "as you did, so shall it be done." It's imprecatory (calling for divine justice), not prescriptive. God ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(9) **Little ones.**—Literally, *sucklings.*
**Stones.—**Better, *cliff *or *rock.*
For this feature of barbarous cruelty with which ancient war was cursed see 2Kings 8:12; Isaiah 13:16; Hosea 10:14, and comp. Homer, *Iliad, xxii.* 63: “My bleeding infants dashed against the floor.”
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
17-21. Joseph was sent of God (Ge 45:5).