Introduction to Psalm 137
Psalm 137 text: 'by the rivers of Babylon' and the psalm of exile
Psalm 137 is the best-known psalm of the Babylonian exile and one of the most moving texts in the Psalter. It opens with its most cited verse: al naharot Bavel sham yashavnu gam-bakhinu be-zokhrenu et-Tziyon — "by the rivers of Babylon — there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion" (Ps 137:1). The demonstrative sham (there) creates emotional distance: the exiles are there, not here; they are far from Zion. The naharot Bavel (rivers of Babylon) are the Tigris, Euphrates, and their canals, along which the Jewish deportees of 587 BC had their settlements.
The psalm describes a scene of liturgical mourning: the exiles hang their lyres (kinnoroteinu) on the willows, because they can no longer sing the Temple songs in a foreign land. The Babylonians shoveinu (who had taken us captive) demand shir mi-shirei Tziyon (a song of Zion's songs, Ps 137:3). The psalmist's response is the foundational liturgical refusal: eikh nashir et-shir YHWH al admat nekhar — "how shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?" (Ps 137:4). The Temple songs are not generic music but sacred liturgy: transplanting them into a profane context would be desecration.
| Verse (MT) | Key Hebrew Term | Theological Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Ps 137:1 | al naharot Bavel (עַל נַהֲרוֹת בָּבֶל) | By the rivers of Babylon |
| Ps 137:2 | kinnoroteinu (כִּנֹּרוֹתֵינוּ) | Our lyres (hung up) |
| Ps 137:4 | al admat nekhar (עַל אַדְמַת נֵכָר) | In a foreign land |
| Ps 137:5 | im eshkachekh Yerushalayim (אִם־אֶשְׁכָּחֵךְ יְרוּשָׁלִָם) | If I forget you, Jerusalem |
| Ps 137:6 | tidbaq leshoni le-chikki (תִּדְבַּק לְשׁוֹנִי לְחִכִּי) | May my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth |
Psalm 137 commentary: 'if I forget you, Jerusalem' and the exilic oath
Verses 5-6 contain one of the most solemn oaths in the Psalter: im eshkachekh Yerushalayim tishkach yemini, tidbaq leshoni le-chikki im lo ezkerekhi im lo a'aleh et-Yerushalayim al rosh simchati — "if I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy" (Ps 137:5-6). The oath is a conditional self-imprecation: the psalmist curses himself in case of forgetting.
The formula im lo a'aleh et-Yerushalayim al rosh simchati (if I do not set Jerusalem at the summit of my joy) has become the foundation of a halakhic practice. Midrash Tehillim 137 interprets the weeping of the exiles on the banks of Babylon as the archetype of permanent mourning for Zion: Rav Yehuda, citing Rav, teaches that the Holy One blessed be He showed David in advance the destruction of the First and Second Temple — a sign that the psalm's lament is not private nostalgia but prophetic vision incorporated into Israel's consciousness. Even today at a Jewish wedding a glass is broken to remember the destruction of the Temple, in fidelity to the oath of Ps 137:6: the greatest personal joy cannot erase the mourning for Zion. The Jewish tradition sees in this text the foundation of zikkaron Tziyon (memory of Zion) as a constitutive identity trait of the people.
Psalm 137 explanation: the final violence and its interpretation
The last two verses of the psalm are the most disturbing in the Psalter: bat-Bavel ha-shedudah ashrei she-yeshallem-lakh et-gemulekh she-gamalt lanu, ashrei she-yochez ve-nippetz et-olalayikh el ha-sela — "O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed! Blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us! Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!" (Ps 137:8-9). The linguistic violence is extreme, and it has generated centuries of exegetical debate. The reading traditions are multiple: (1) transferring exilic rage into prayer, avoiding personal revenge but asking for divine justice; (2) an echo of the treatment Babylon meted out to Jewish children (Hos 14:1, 2 Kgs 8:12); (3) a patristic allegorical reading that sees in the olalim (infants) the nascent sinful thoughts that must be dashed against the sela (rock, Christ) before they grow.
The verse must be read in its historical context: the bat-Bavel ha-shedudah (doomed daughter of Babylon) is Babylon itself, and the law of retaliation (she-gamalt lanu) is applied as a principle of retributive justice, not as personal authorization to revenge. Mishnah Bava Qamma 8:1 develops the principle of gemul (retribution) as the foundation of legal order, distinguishing between damage and compensation. Ps 137 does not ask for personal revenge but for communal justice, sung in the form of a lament psalm. The traditional Psalm 137 explanation does not erase the violence of the text but contextualizes it within the theology of exilic lamentation: the persecuted righteous entrusts to God the pursuit of justice, rather than taking it into his own hands.