Psalms
Psalm 137
KJV
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.
For 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.
How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.
If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.
Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.
O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.
Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.
Overview
Psalm 137 is an exile lament that moves from grief by Babylon’s rivers, through refusal of coerced song and fierce remembrance of Jerusalem, into appeals for judgment against Edom and Babylon and a final violent imprecation that must be read as trauma-shaped rage, not as permission to harm children.
Setting and context
The psalm gives unedited voice to displaced people after Jerusalem’s devastation. It should be read historically and pastorally without converting its enemies into modern ethnic targets or its final line into a command for violence.
Themes
Exile, grief, and coerced song · Remembering Jerusalem · Appeal against Edom and Babylon · The violent final imprecation
Reflection
Make room for grief that is not performative, resist humiliating demands placed on the displaced, practice faithful memory without weaponizing sacred geography, and bring rage before God rather than acting it out against vulnerable people.
Reading notes
Edom is an ancient referent in this lament, not a transferable label for modern enemies. the line voices retaliatory rage in trauma poetry; it must not be turned into approval or instruction to harm children.
Key passages
Psalm 137:1: Grief, displacement, and memory are presented without being rushed toward resolution. Psalm 137:4: The question expresses the spiritual dislocation of worship away from home. Psalm 137:9: The final line exposes the extremity of trauma and retaliatory rage; it is not a moral command to harm children.
Questions readers ask
How should Psalm 137:9 be read? the line voices retaliatory rage in trauma poetry; it must not be turned into approval or instruction to harm children.