Psalms
Chapter 137
By the Rivers of Babylon
By the streams of Babylon, we sat; and then wept, as we remembered Zion.
When, on the poplars, we hung our harps,
our captors asked for song. Our tormentors wanted songs of joy: “Sing to us one of the songs of Zion!”
How could we sing the Lord’s song in a strange and alien land?
If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand fall useless!
May my tongue cleave to my palate if I remember you not, if Jerusalem is not the first of my joys.
Remember, Lord, the Edomites —what did they do when Jerusalem fell? They said, “Tear the city down, tear it down to its foundations!”
O daughter of Babylon, you will be sacked; happy is he who repays you and does to you what you have done to us!
Happy is he who seizes your infants, and dashes them against the rocks!
Commentaries
137
A Christian cannot feel completely at home in a world where religion is just a mild curiosity or even a target of violent attack. However, we will not give in, we will not forget who we are, nor will we wait passively for the end, but will vigorously defend ourselves against the attacks the Church faces.
The passionate love for Jerusalem and the Lord is above all else. Revelation 14:8; 16:19; 17:5; 18:2; 10:21 highlights the contrast between the psalm’s Jerusalem/Babylon axis and the reference to the new Jerusalem, representing the great city symbolized by evil. Does faith cause us pain? Do we sweat blood to maintain a loving faith for the Lord? Whom do we love with all our hearts, even at the risk of our physical well-being? We pray with this psalm, united with all who love God above everything.
This may be one of the most difficult psalms. It should remind us that evil will continue to surround us.