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Psalms 137

KJV · Chapter 137/150

1By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.

2We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.

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 shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?

5If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.

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 children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.

8O daughter of Babylon, who 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 stones.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

A poignant lament written by the rivers of Babylon, where the exiles wept as they remembered Zion and refused to sing their sacred songs for their mocking captors, ending with words of pain and a longing for retribution against their oppressors.

Explanation

This is one of the most emotionally intense and historically specific psalms in the psalter, clearly written during or shortly after the Babylonian exile (586-538 BC), when the Jews were taken captive and cruelly forced to entertain their captors with temple songs. The final verses (8-9), extremely harsh, reflect the common (and shocking to modern readers) language of ancient warfare, and are understood by scholars as a raw expression of extreme pain poured out to God, not a literal moral instruction to be carried out. The application for today, in all honesty, is recognizing that the Bible records even the most difficult and uncomfortable feelings of human experience in the face of suffering, without necessarily endorsing them as a model for action.

Fun facts

  • This psalm directly inspired the reggae song 'Rivers of Babylon' (The Melodians, popularized by Boney M.), one of the few times a biblical psalm became a worldwide musical hit in the 20th century.
  • 'Hanging the harps on the willows' (v. 2) became an idiomatic expression, still used today to describe forced silence in the face of great sorrow.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Psalms 137:1This psalm was written by exiles taken by force to Babylon after the fall of Jerusalem. The text mourns, with real pain, everything that was left behind.
  2. Psalms 137:2Hanging their harps on the willows meant refusing to play festive music while living as prisoners far from home — a silenced instrument as a symbol of mourning.
  3. Psalms 137:3Asking for “one of the songs of Zion” was mockery: the captors wanted to watch the captives sing festive hymns from the destroyed temple purely for entertainment. That is why the next verse sounds like refusal, not a literal impossibility.
  4. Psalms 137:4This is the question that explains why the harps were left hanging in the previous verse: singing a sacred song as entertainment for the very people who destroyed their city seemed simply impossible.
  5. Psalms 137:5Saying that his own hand would forget its skill is an oath of loyalty: the author vows to lose the ability to play the harp or write before he forgets Jerusalem — swearing faithfulness using his own skill as collateral.
  6. Psalms 137:6It continues the oath from the previous verse, now aiming at the tongue: may it cling to the roof of his mouth if he ever stops placing Jerusalem above any other joy.
  7. Psalms 137:7Edom, a neighboring people of Israel, is remembered here rooting for Jerusalem’s total destruction, urging that the city be razed down to its very foundations.
  8. Psalms 137:8The target shifts to Babylon itself: the desire for retribution follows a simple logic of equal justice, paying back in the very same measure what was done to them.
  9. Psalms 137:9This is the climax of a lament written by people who had just watched their own city destroyed and children killed by invading armies — in ancient warfare it was common for the victorious side to kill the children of the defeated people to wipe out their line. Here, the pain and rage of exile wish the same fate on those who did this; the text records this raw outburst without offering approval or disapproval of it.

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