Psalm 137
1599 Geneva Bible
137 1 The people of God in their banishment seeing God’s true Religion decay, lived in great anguish and sorrow of heart: the which grief the Chaldeans did so little pity, 3 That they rather increased the same daily with taunts, reproaches and blasphemies against God. 7 Wherefore the Israelites desire God, first to punish the Edomites, who provoked the Babylonians against them, 8 And moved by the Spirit of God, prophesy the destruction of Babylon, where they were handled so tyrannously.
1 By the rivers of Babel we [a]sat, and there we wept, when we remembered Zion.
2 We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst [b]thereof.
3 Then they that led us captive, [c]required of us songs and mirth, when we had hanged up our harps, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
4 How shall we sing, said we, a song of the Lord in a strange land?
5 [d]If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget to play.
6 If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth: yea, if I prefer not Jerusalem to my [e]chief joy.
7 Remember the children of [f]Edom, O Lord, in the [g]day of Jerusalem, which said, Raze it, raze it to the foundation thereof.
8 O daughter of Babel, worthy to be destroyed, blessed shall he be that rewardeth thee, as thou hast served us.
9 [h]Blessed shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy children against the stones.
Footnotes
- Psalm 137:1 That is, we abode a long time, and albeit that the country was pleasant, yet could not stay our tears, nor turn us from the true service of our God.
- Psalm 137:2 To wit, of that country.
- Psalm 137:3 The Babylonians speak thus in mocking us, as though by our silence we should signify that we hoped no more in God.
- Psalm 137:5 Albeit the faithful are touched with their particular griefs, yet the common sorrow of the Church is most grievous unto them, and is such as they cannot but remember and lament.
- Psalm 137:6 The decay of God’s religion in their country was so grievous, that no joy could make them glad, except it were restored.
- Psalm 137:7 According as Ezekiel 25:13 and Jer. 49:7, prophesied: and Obadiah, verse 10, showeth that the Edomites which came of Esau, conspired with the Babylonians against their brethren and kinsfolk.
- Psalm 137:7 When thou didst visit Jerusalem.
- Psalm 137:9 He alludeth to Isaiah’s prophecy, Isa. 13:16, promising good success to Cyrus and Darius, whom ambition moved to fight against Babylon, but God used them as his rods to punish his enemies.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.
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