5 If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, my right hand forgetteth!
and come in doth Hanani, one of my brethren, he and men of Judah, and I ask them concerning the Jews, the escaped part that have been left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem; and they say to me, `Those left, who have been left of the captivity there in the province, `are' in great evil, and in reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burnt with fire.' And it cometh to pass, at my hearing these words, I have sat down, and I weep and mourn `for' days, and I am fasting and praying before the God of the heavens.
and the king saith to me, `Wherefore `is' thy face sad, and thou not sick? this is nothing except sadness of heart;' and I fear very much, and say to the king, `Let the king to the age live! wherefore should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of the graves of my fathers, `is' a waste, and its gates have been consumed with fire?'
For good `is' a day in Thy courts, O Teacher! I have chosen rather to be at the threshold, In the house of my God, Than to dwell in tents of wickedness.
Thou -- Thou risest -- Thou pitiest Zion, For the time to favour her, For the appointed time hath come. For Thy servants have been pleased with her stones, And her dust they favour.
For there have sat thrones of judgment, Thrones of the house of David. Ask ye the peace of Jerusalem, At rest are those loving thee. Peace is in thy bulwark, rest in thy high places, For the sake of my brethren and my companions, Let me speak, I pray thee, `Peace `be' in thee.' For the sake of the house of Jehovah our God, I seek good for thee!
For Zion's sake I am not silent, And for Jerusalem's sake I do not rest, Till her righteousness go out as brightness, And her salvation, as a torch that burneth.
`On thy walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen, All the day, and all the night, Continually, they are not silent.' O ye remembrancers of Jehovah, Keep not silence for yourselves, And give not silence to Him, Till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem A praise in the earth.
And Daniel, when he hath known that the writing is signed, hath gone up to his house, and the window being opened for him, in his upper chamber, over-against Jerusalem, three times in a day he is kneeling on his knees, and praying, and confessing before his God, because that he was doing `it' before this. Then these men have assembled, and found Daniel praying and entreating grace before his God;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 137
Commentary on Psalms 137 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 137
Ps 137:1-9. This Psalm records the mourning of the captive Israelites, and a prayer and prediction respecting the destruction of their enemies.
1. rivers of Babylon—the name of the city used for the whole country.
remembered Zion—or, Jerusalem, as in Ps 132:13.
2. upon the willows—which may have grown there then, if not now; as the palm, which was once common, is now rare in Palestine.
3, 4. Whether the request was in curiosity or derision, the answer intimates that a compliance was incongruous with their mournful feelings (Pr 25:20).
5, 6. For joyful songs would imply forgetfulness of their desolated homes and fallen Church. The solemn imprecations on the hand and tongue, if thus forgetful, relate to the cunning or skill in playing, and the power of singing.
7-9. Remember … the children of Edom—(Compare Ps 132:1), that is, to punish.
the day of Jerusalem—its downfall (La 4:21, 22; Ob 11-13).
8. daughter of Babylon—the people (Ps 9:13). Their destruction had been abundantly foretold (Isa 13:14; Jer 51:23). For the terribleness of that destruction, God's righteous judgment, and not the passions of the chafed Israelites, was responsible.