The Book of Psalms

Psalm 137

Psalm CXXXVII · Vol. II, p. 1074

1 The constancy of the Jews in captivity. 7 The prophet curseth Edom and Babel.

Margin referencesNotes ↓

1 By the^a rivers of Babylon, there we ^bsat down; yea, we wept when ^cwe remembered Zion.¹

B.C. cir. 587.

a Ge.2.10-14. Eze.1.1. Da.8.1.

b Job 2.12. La.2.10. Je.15.17.

c Ps.42.4. Je.51.50. Zep.3.10.

1 This is a psalm written by some exile as he sat on the bank of the Euphrates. It is sweet, beautiful, and of deepest pathos. It exhibits a settled and almost gloomy despondency, an undying love for home and fatherland, and a bitter memory of cruelty and injustice.—P.

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

d La.5.15; 1.16,17; 2.5,10; 3.1,49.

3 For^e there they that carried us away captive required of us a song;² and they that wasted us³ required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.

e Ps.79.1; 44.13-16. Je.9.11. La.2.15,16.

2 Heb. the words of a song.

3 Heb. laid us on heaps.

4 How^g shall we sing the LORD's song in a strange land?⁴

g Am.8.3. La.5.15. Mat.7.6.

4 Heb. land of a stranger.

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

h Da.6.10,11. Je.51.50. Ne.1.3,4. Ps.cxxii. 2 Co.11.28,29. Phi.2.4,21. Job 31.22. 1 Sa.4.19,21,22.

6 If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; ⁱif I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.⁵

i Ps.84.10.

5 Heb. the head of my joy.

7 Remember,^j O LORD, ^kthe children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase⁶ it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.

j 1 Sa.15.2. Ho.7.2.

k Ob.10-14. Je.49.7. Eze.25.12. La.4.22. Mal.1.4.

6 Heb. make bare.

8 O daughter⁷ of Babylon, ^lwho art to be destroyed;⁸ happy shall he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.⁹

7 Daughter.—The new city built by Nebuchadnezzar.—C.

l Is.xiii.xiv.xxi.xlvii. Je.l.li. Re.18.6.

8 Heb. wasted.

9 Heb. that recompenseth unto thee thy deed which thou didst to us.

9 Happy shall he be that taketh and ⁿdasheth thy little ones against the stones.¹

n Is.13.16. Ho.10.14; 13.16. Re.2.23; 13.10.

1 Heb. the rock.

Notes

Ver. 1. The chief rivers of the Babylonian empire were, the united Euphrates and Tigris, which, dividing into several branches, form many rivers. See Eze. 1. 1; Da. 8. 2. Of the united Euphrates and Tigris, and the canals traversing the city to water its palaces, parks, and gardens, the psalm evidently seems to speak. C.

Ver. 2. Babylon was a square sixty miles in circuit; its streets fifteen miles in length. There will, therefore, be no difficulty in imagining how in so many squares as the city afforded, there would be a profusion of willows for the harps of the melancholy exiles. C.

Ver. 3. Want of sympathy with the feelings of others is one of the commonest forms of human selfishness—of human sinfulness. C.

Ver. 9. Happy. This implies no praise of deeds of horror, but the honour due to the judge who pronounces sentence against an incorrigible criminal. C.

Reflections.—The sins of God's people often reduce them to great misery on earth. They are often taught the worth of ordinances by the want of them: and their temple songs are turned into howlings and grief. But cruel are the tender mercies of the wicked to God's suffering saints. And it is base and blasphemous to insult them with their worshipping of God. Sacred songs ill suit the call or company of profane scoffers. That which is holy ought not to be given to dogs, nor pearls cast before swine. The interest of Jesus' church and kingdom must ever be dearer to us than our life: and if duty be once clear, nothing must deter us from it. Not selfish desire, but holy zeal, must dictate our requests for the blessings of God on the church. Malicious and inhuman is all wickedness, and tremendous and correspondent is the punishment of it!