Psalms · psalm 137 of 150
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Psalm 137 is the lament of the Jewish exiles by the rivers of Babylon. They weep as they remember Zion, hang their lyres on the willows and refuse to sing the songs of the Lord to entertain their captors. They swear never to forget Jerusalem, ask God to remember what Edom did, and end with a harsh prayer against Babylon and its children.
Psalm 137 comes out of the exile in Babylon, after the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 586 BC. It is one of the most intense poems in the Bible: it combines longing, oath, humiliation and rage. It is also one of the imprecatory psalms, whose ending troubles many readers and calls for a careful reading that neither hides the harshness of the text nor turns it into a guide for conduct.
The psalm opens with a scene: by the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. The exiles hang their lyres on the willows on the bank. Those who had carried them captive asked them for songs, with mirth, saying: sing us one of the songs of Zion. It was mockery, for they were asked to entertain their oppressors with the music of their faith.
Verse 4 asks the central question: how shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? Verses 5 and 6 are an oath: if I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill, let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy. Memory is loyalty and faith.
Verses 7 to 9 are a harsh prayer. It asks the Lord to remember the sons of Edom, who on the day of Jerusalem cried out: tear it down to its foundations. It announces the destruction of the daughter of Babylon and calls blessed the one who repays her for what she did and who takes her little ones and dashes them against the rock. It is a cry for vengeance full of pain.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
By the rivers of Babylon the exiles sit and weep as they remember Zion. Longing for the city of God is both grief and faithfulness.
The exiles ask how to sing the Lord's songs in a foreign land. It is the pain of one who feels that his faith does not fit in an alien place and under the mockery of others.
The psalmist swears that, if he forgets Jerusalem, he should lose his hand and his tongue. The memory of the city of God is a form of faithfulness to God himself.
The psalm ends with an imprecation against Babylon and its children that gathers the pain of a destroyed people. It is an honest cry that God allows in Scripture, but it should not be taken as a pattern of conduct.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: By the rivers of Babylon, remembering Zion. — Psalm 137:1
Answer: They hung them on the willows on the bank. — Psalm 137:2
Answer: Songs and mirth, that they sing one of the songs of Zion. — Psalm 137:3
Answer: How to sing the Lord's song in a foreign land. — Psalm 137:4
Answer: That his right hand forget its skill and his tongue stick to his mouth if he forgets her. — Psalm 137:5-6
Answer: What the sons of Edom did on the day of Jerusalem. — Psalm 137:7
Psalm 137 gives permission to weep in the exile of life, whether grief, a forced move, a distant church or a dry season. God preserves in his Word the weeping of his people. In a small group you can ask which songs are hard for us to sing today and pray with those going through such a time.
It also demands honesty about the ending. The Bible does not hide the rage of pain, but Jesus taught us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, and he did not endorse revenge. Christians can read this psalm as a cry for justice handed over to God, not as an order. The memory of who God is, from Zion to the cross, sustains faith far from home.
Psalm 137 ends with a torn cry from Babylon. Psalm 138, by David, answers with a prayer of thanksgiving, of trust in the Lord who fulfills his purpose even in the midst of distress.
The psalm looks back on the exile from the perspective of one who has lived it, so it was probably composed during or shortly after the Babylonian captivity, which began with the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. The text gives no author or exact date.
It is one of the harshest lines in the Bible. In ancient war, conquerors often killed the children of the defeated, and Babylon had done so to Jerusalem. The psalmist asks that what it did be repaid. It is a cry of pain and of justice, not a rule for believers, who are called to love their enemies.
Edom, a people descended from Esau and neighbors of Judah, rejoiced at the fall of Jerusalem and urged its destruction. Prophets such as Obadiah and Ezekiel denounce it for this. The psalmist asks God not to forget that attitude.