BIBLE CHAPTER STUDY
Psalms 137 — Mourning in Exile
Exiled Israelites mourn Zion, refuse to sing for captors, and pray that God repay Babylon and Edom.
Scripture
1By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept, When we remembered Zion.
2Upon the willows in the midst thereof We hanged up our harps.
3For there they that led us captive required of us songs, And they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
4How shall we sing Jehovah's song In a foreign land?
5If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, Let my right hand forget her skill.
6Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, If I remember thee not; If I prefer not Jerusalem Above my chief joy.
7Remember, O Jehovah, against the children of Edom The day of Jerusalem; Who said, Rase it, rase it, Even to the foundation thereof.
8O daughter of Babylon, that 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 rock.
What this passage means
Psalms 137 opens with the exiles sitting by Babylon's rivers, weeping as they remember Zion. Their harps hang unused on the willows because the setting of forced displacement is incompatible with joyful worship. The image of silent instruments becomes the chapter's defining picture of a faith community silenced by suffering.
In verses 3-6 the psalm turns into a covenantal pledge. The captors mockingly demand 'songs of Zion,' and the singers refuse: how can they sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? The poet then binds himself with self-imprecating vows to remember Jerusalem above his greatest joy, using his right hand's skill and his tongue as pledges. Worship here is tied to memory of God's dwelling place.
The closing verses shift from lament to imprecation. The singer asks God to 'remember' against Edom for rejoicing in Jerusalem's fall and to repay 'the daughter of Babylon' with the measure she dealt out. These are raw pleas for justice addressed to God, not commands to the readers, and they fit a psalm that begins in tears and ends by handing the verdict over to the Lord.
Context
The psalm is set among exiles, those who had been 'carried away' into Babylon (verse 3). It depicts a community that has lost its land and temple yet retains its identity through memory, language, and vowed loyalty to Jerusalem. The mention of Zion, Jerusalem, and the Lord's song places this firmly within Israel's worship tradition, even though no specific historical event is named in the chapter itself.
The closing prayers against Edom and Babylon take on deeper resonance when read alongside the cross references. Isaiah 13, Nahum 3, and Hosea 13 use similar images of judgment against hostile nations; Lamentations and Obadiah address Edom's role in Jerusalem's fall; and Revelation 18 later pictures Babylon's downfall in terms that echo Psalm 137's call for repayment. The psalm thus belongs to a wide biblical pattern of lament that looks to God's justice when human suffering cries out.
Key words in the original
- H0894 בָּבֶל (Bāvel) — the place name rendered 'Babylon' in verse 1, the setting of the psalm's exile and grief.
- H6726 צִיּוֹן (Ṣiyyôn) — 'Zion,' the Jerusalem mount of God's dwelling, invoked here as the object of the exiles' tears and remembered joy.
- H7892 שִׁיר (šîr) — 'song,' appearing in verses 3 and 4 in the phrase 'songs of Zion' and 'Jehovah's song,' the very music the exiles refuse to perform.
Related verses
- Isaiah 13:16 Isaiah's oracle against Babylon uses the same image of infants dashed against stones that appears in Psalms 137:9, connecting the psalm's final prayer to a wider prophetic portrait of Babylon's fall.
- Lamentations 4:21 Lamentations addresses 'daughter of Edom' with language that mirrors Psalms 137:7, reminding readers that the psalm's plea against Edom is part of an existing tradition of indicting Edom for gloating over Jerusalem's destruction.
- Revelation 18:6 Revelation's call to repay Babylon 'double' according to her works echoes Psalms 137:8, showing how later Scripture takes up the psalm's call for measured justice against the city that crushed God's people.
Common questions
Why did the exiles hang their harps on the willows?
The psalm presents the harps as silent because the setting of forced exile is incompatible with joyful worship. Their instruments hang unused as an image of a community that has lost its place of praise.
How can believers sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?
The question posed in verse 4 is rhetorical. The psalm's answer is twofold: worship must remain tied to memory of God's dwelling place, and it cannot be performed on command for those who despise that place. Jerusalem remains above the psalmist's chief joy.
What should readers make of the violent prayers against Babylon and Edom?
These are pleas for justice addressed to God, not commands to the readers. The singer asks the Lord to remember Jerusalem's fall and to repay the nations that caused it. The chapter begins in lament and ends by handing the verdict over to God rather than taking vengeance directly.