Psalm 137

Authorship

This Psalm is anonymous.

Outline

(This began as Wendland's Expository Outline, but may be adapted.)

I. Despair. By the rivers of Babylon: (1-2)

A. There we sat down.

B. Yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.

C. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.

II. Dilemma. (3-4)

A. For there, they that carried us away captive required of us a song.

B. They that wasted us required of us mirth.

C. They said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”

D. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?

III. Determination. (5-6)

A. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.

B. If I do not prefer Jerusalem above my chief joy and remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.

IV. Declaration. (7-9)

A. Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, “Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.”

B. O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be...

1. That rewards thee as thou hast served us.

2. That does to you as you did to us (takes and dashes thy little ones against the stones.)

Textual Criticism

The following is from Barthélemy's Critique textuelle de l’Ancien Testament volume on the Psalms. For a key to the various symbols and abbreviations, click here.

Ps 137,3 וְתוֹלָלֵינוּ {B} MT // voc-incert: G, σ', Hebr, S, T

Ps 137,8 הַשְּׁדוּדָה {B} MT, G, α', θ', Hebr // ign-styl: σ', S, T