God’s Word for Today

24 Apr 2024

By the waters of Babylon,

there we sat down and wept,

when we remembered Zion.

2 On the willows there

we hung up our lyres.

3 For there our captors

required of us songs,

and our tormentors, mirth, saying,

“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

4 How shall we sing the LORD's song

in a foreign land?

5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,

let my right hand forget its skill!

6 Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,

if I do not remember you,

if I do not set Jerusalem

above my highest joy!

7 Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites

the day of Jerusalem,

how they said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare,

down to its foundations!”

8 O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed,

blessed shall he be who repays you

with what you have done to us!

9 Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones

and dashes them against the rock!

-Psa 137:1-9 ESV

WHEN WE REMEMBER ZION

The Israelites who sang this song were captives in Babylon. They were working in a slave camp beside one of Babylon’s rivers. As a torment for their victims, the Babylonian slavedrivers created some amusement for themselves by asking the downcast slaves to sing some of the merry and glorious songs of Zion.(v.1-3).

By the waters of Babylon,

there we sat down and wept,

when we remembered Zion.

2 On the willows there

we hung up our lyres.

3 For there our captors

required of us songs,

and our tormentors, mirth, saying,

“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

This cruel insult from their oppressors had grieved them greatly because their beloved Jerusalem is in ruins. How can they forget?  Jerusalem means so much to them. And singing glorious songs that would now be a mockery? They would rather be struck dumb and forget their skills than do such a thing (4-6).

4 How shall we sing the LORD's song

in a foreign land?

5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,

let my right hand forget its skill!

6 Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,

if I do not remember you,

if I do not set Jerusalem

above my highest joy!

At the time of Jerusalem’s destruction, the Edomites had encouraged the Babylonians (7).

7 Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites

the day of Jerusalem,

how they said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare,

down to its foundations!”

Undoubtedly,  the Babylonians were the ones mainly responsible for the merciless slaughter of God’s people. The psalmist announces a retribution on the Babylonians. That they might be punished by similar infliction of barbarism that they did upon them. (v.8-9).

8 O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed,

blessed shall he be who repays you

with what you have done to us!

9 Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones

and dashes them against the rock!

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