诗篇 137:5-6 CUVS

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 137:5

If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning ; literally, let my right hand forget ; but the words supplied in the Authorized Version are necessary to bring out the sense, which is, "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, so far as to desecrate thy sacred songs by making them an entertainment for the heathen, may I never have power to strike a note again!" read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 137:5-6

Sanctified patriotism. "Let my right hand forget," i . e . be numbed into deadness. The psalm expresses the feelings of an exile who has but just returned from the land of his captivity. He is oppressed with the desolation around him. His heart is heavy and bitter with the memory of wrong and insult from which he has but lately escaped. "He takes his harp, which he could not sound at the bidding of his conqueror by the waters of Babylon; and now with faltering hand he sweeps the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 137:6

If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth. Let me be deprived of the power of song. What was wished in the preceding verso with respect to the power of instrumental performance is here wished with respect to the vocal organs. If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. This seems to be the true sense, and is equivalent to "If I prefer not Jerusalem above aught else." read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Psalms 137:5

If I forget thee, O Jerusalem - The meaning here is, that to sing in such circumstances would seem to imply that they had forgotten Jerusalem; that they were unmindful of its sorrows, and cared not that it was desolate. The remembrance of its calamities pressed hard upon them, and they could not do anything which would seem to imply that they had become unmindful of the sufferings that had come upon their nation. One will not make merry when a wife or child lies dying - or on the day of the... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Psalms 137:6

If I do not remember thee - Equivalent to, “If I forget thee.” If I ever fail to remember thee; if I shall ever act as if I had forgotten thee. Singing in a strange land, among those who had perpetrated such wrongs in thee - appearing to be happy, cheerful, joyous, happy, merry there - would be understood to imply that I had ceased to remember thee, and cared nothing for thee.Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth - Compare Ezekiel 3:26. Let me be unable to speak; let my tongue be as it... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Psalms 137:5-6

Psalms 137:5-6. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem If I do not retain a deep and sorrowful sense of thy desolations, though never so far removed from thee; or if I indulge myself in mirth and jollity, as if I had forgotten thee; let my right hand The hand chiefly used in playing on musical instruments, and in all other actions; forget her cunning That is, lose its skill of playing. In the Hebrew it is only, Let my right hand forget, without expressing what, to intimate the extent and... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Psalms 137:1-9

Psalms 137:0 Against the BabyloniansThe Israelites who first sang this song were captives in Babylon, working in a slave camp beside one of Babylon’s rivers. The Babylonian slave-masters tried to create some amusement for themselves (and some torment for their victims) by asking the downcast slaves to sing some of the merry songs of glorious Jerusalem (1-3). The cruel insults of the slave-masters pierce the hearts of the Israelites, because their beloved Jerusalem is in ruins. How can they... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Psalms 137:5

If I forget . . . do not remember. The writer's then present personal declaration. Let my right hand forget. Supply "me" for the Ellipsis. Some codices, with Septuagint and Vulgate, read "let my right hand be forgotten". read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Psalms 137:5-6

Psalms 137:5-6. Let my right hand forget her cunning, &c.— There is nothing for her cunning in the original. The plain meaning is, "May my right hand forget to play upon the harp; may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, disenabling me from singing, if I prefer not, or according to the original, if I advance not Jerusalem in the beginning of my joy;" that is, "If again I sing any such festival songs, till that joyful day shall come, when I shall see Jerusalem and her holy solemnities... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Psalms 137:5

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. read more