For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Psa 137

1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
    when we remembered Zion.
2 There on the poplars
    we hung our harps,
3 for there our captors asked us for songs,
    our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
    they said, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’

4 How can we sing the songs of the Lord
    while in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, Jerusalem,
    may my right hand forget its skill.
6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
    if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem
    my highest joy.

7 Remember, Lord, what the Edomites did
    on the day Jerusalem fell.
‘Tear it down,’ they cried,
    ‘tear it down to its foundations!’
8 Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction,
    happy is the one who repays you
    according to what you have done to us.
9 Happy is the one who seizes your infants
    and dashes them against the rocks.

A. Find Out

1. What had happened when? v.1
2. So what had they done, and v.2
3. What was asked of them?  v.3
4. What was their response? v.4-6
5. What do they ask the Lord to do? v.7
6. What warning do they bring? v.8,9

B. Think:

1. What were they feeling in exile?
2. How were they provoked into this psalm?
3. What two things did it leave them thinking about?

C. Comment:

                This psalm obviously comes during the time of Israel’s exile in Babylon (v.1a). There they wept as they remembered their homeland and especially Jerusalem (v.1b). In their anguish, they did not  feel like singing so they hung up their harps (v.20 but their captors tormented them, calling them to sing a song of their homeland (v.3).

                But this tormenting provoked them even more; how could they possibly sing the songs of the Lord while they are in a foreign land? (v.4) Jerusalem meant so much to them, the place of God’s dwelling, they could never forget it (v.5,6) and they would even curse themselves rather than forget it.

                They think back to Jerusalem’s history, they think of the times it had been attacked, of the time when the Edomites watched as Babylon laid siege to it and laughed and derided the city of God (v.7) as it fell before the judgment of God.

                They turn on their captors and declare that Babylon is doomed for destruction (v.8) and those who come against her will be blessed, as they come against this people who do what they have done, killing all who stand before them, including babies and children (v.9). There will be no mercy for them. This nation may have acted as God’s instrument but the Lord will judge them for their bad attitude in it all.

D. Application:

1. Never rejoice over the downfall of another.
2. God may use bad people but He will also punish them.