Psalms 137 (LSB)

Chapter Text

137:1 By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat and also wept, When we remembered Zion.

137:2 Upon the willows in the midst of it We hung our lyres.

137:3 For there our captors asked us about the words of a song, And our tormentors asked joyfully, saying, “Sing for us one of the songs of Zion.”

137:4 How can we sing a song of Yahweh In a foreign land?

137:5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, May my right hand forget her skill.

137:6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth If I do not remember you, If I do not exalt Jerusalem Above my chief joy.

137:7 Remember, O Yahweh, against the sons of Edom The day of Jerusalem, Who said, “Tear it down! Tear it down To its very foundation.”

137:8 O daughter of Babylon, you devastated one, How blessed will be the one who repays you With the recompense with which you have recompensed us.

137:9 How blessed will be the one who seizes and dashes your infants Against the cliff.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "rivers", "babylon", "wept", "remembered", "zion", "upon", "willows", and "midst". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "rivers" and "babylon", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The local LSB text gives this verse as the immediate unit, so "rivers" and "babylon" carries the first interpretive weight. In Psalms context, the local focus is worship, trust, the LORD's kingship, and covenant mercy.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "rivers" and "babylon" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.