Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Psalm 137

28 catchwords257 parallels

← Psalms | ← Ch 136 | Ch 138 →

Psalm 137 . 1 , The constancy of the Jews in captivity; Psalm 137 . 7 , The prophet curses Edom and Babel.

Psalm 137:1

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.

Psalm 137:1 · BSB

the rivers14 parallels

we wept15 parallels

Reciprocal12 parallels

am cir , 3463 , bc cir , 541 . Title The author of this beautiful and affecting elegy is unknown , but the occasion is evident; and it was most probably composed during , or near the close of , the captivity.

Psalm 137:2

There on the willows we hung our harps,

Psalm 137:2 · BSB

we hanged6 parallels

Willows were so plentiful at Babylon , on the banks of the Euphrates , that Isaiah calls it "the brook or river of willows."

Reciprocal7 parallels

Psalm 137:3

for there our captors requested a song; our tormentors demanded songs of joy: “Sing us a song of Zion.”

Psalm 137:3 · BSB

For there4 parallels

wasted us6 parallels

Heb. laid us on heaps

the songs of Zion9 parallels

Reciprocal7 parallels

a song Heb. the words of a song

Psalm 137:4

How can we sing a song of the LORD in a foreign land?

Psalm 137:4 · BSB

How shall6 parallels

strange land1 parallel

Heb. land of a stranger

Reciprocal5 parallels

Psalm 137:5

If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand cease to function.

Psalm 137:5 · BSB

I forget15 parallels

let my right1 parallel

Reciprocal7 parallels

Psalm 137:6

May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem as my greatest joy!

Psalm 137:6 · BSB

let my tongue4 parallels

if I prefer5 parallels

Reciprocal17 parallels

my chief joy Heb. the head of my joy

Psalm 137:7

Remember, O LORD, the sons of Edom on the day Jerusalem fell: “Destroy it,” they said, “tear it down to its foundations!”

Psalm 137:7 · BSB

Remember5 parallels

the children7 parallels

Reciprocal21 parallels

Raze it Heb. make bare

Psalm 137:8

O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, blessed is he who repays you as you have done to us.

Psalm 137:8 · BSB

daughter4 parallels

who art10 parallels

happy8 parallels

rewardeth2 parallels

etc. Heb. recompenseth unto thee thy deed which thou didst unto us

Reciprocal32 parallels

destroyed Heb. wasted

Psalm 137:9

Blessed is he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.

Psalm 137:9 · BSB

and dasheth3 parallels

Reciprocal24 parallels

the stones Heb. the rock

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge is the classical cross-reference layer — centuries of catchword parallels beneath the site’s quotations, allusions, and echoes. Every reference above also flows into the wider web of connections.

In the wider web2 threads
Longitudinal Themes
Exile and Return
Chiasms
Shaped Psalm 137:1–9
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