Psalm 137:8-9

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 137:7-9

The pious Jews in Babylon, having afflicted themselves with the thoughts of the ruins of Jerusalem, here please themselves with the prospect of the ruin of her impenitent implacable enemies; but this not from a spirit of revenge, but from a holy zeal for the glory of God and the honour of his kingdom. I. The Edomites will certainly be reckoned with, and all others that were accessaries to the destruction of Jerusalem, that were aiding and abetting, that helped forward the affliction (Zech.... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 137:8

O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed ,.... By the determinate counsel and decree of God, and according to divine predictions; see Jeremiah 50:1 ; so mystical Babylon, antichrist, and the man of sin, who therefore is called the son of perdition, 2 Thessalonians 2:3 ; because appointed to destruction, and shall certainly go into it, Revelation 17:8 ; or "O thou destroyer", as the Targum, which paraphrases it thus, "Gabriel, the prince of Zion, said to the Babylonish nation... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 137:9

Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones. That takes the infants from their mothers' breasts, or out of their arms, and dashes out their brains against a "rock", as the word F11 אל סלע "ad petram", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, &c.; "ad repem", Cocceius. signifies; which, though it may seem a piece of cruelty, was but a just retaliation; the Babylonians having done the same to the Jewish children, and is foretold elsewhere should be done to... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 137:8

O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed - Or, O thou daughter of Babylon the destroyer, or, who art to be ruined. In being reduced under the empire of the Persians, Babylon was already greatly humbled and brought low from what it was in the days of Nebuchadnezzar; but it was afterwards so totally ruined that not a vestige of it remains. After its capture by Cyrus, A.M. 3468, it could never be considered a capital city; but it appeared to follow the fortunes of its various conquerors... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 137:9

Happy - that taketh and dasheth thy little ones - That is, So oppressive hast thou been to all under thy domination, as to become universally hated and detested; so that those who may have the last hand in thy destruction, and the total extermination of thy inhabitants, shall be reputed happy - shall be celebrated and extolled as those who have rid the world of a curse so grievous. These prophetic declarations contain no excitement to any person or persons to commit acts of cruelty and... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 137:8

Verse 8 8.O daughter of Babylon (187) laid waste! The Psalmist discerns the coming judgment of God, though not yet apparent, by the eye of faith, as the Apostle well calls faith “the beholding of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1.) Incredible as it might appear that any calamity should overtake so mighty an empire as Babylon then was, and impregnable as it was generally considered to be, he sees in the glass of the Word its destruction and overthrow. He calls upon all God’s people to do the same,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 137:1-9

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 137:1-9

Incongruity in religion. The psalm brings before us in very vivid color— I. THE DARK SHADOW CAST BY A GREAT GOOD . Patriotism is an excellent thing, and we are all of us glad and thankful to belong to a land of light and liberty. We would not, on any account, forego so great an advantage, so valuable a privilege. But how much suffering that blessing may entail! Who can measure the intensity of the humiliation and distress which the children of Israel endured when they... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 137:1-9

Fruits of exile from God. It was Israel's, or rather Judah's, exile from Zion and Jerusalem that this psalm commemorated; but the fruits that exile bore, and which are here told of, set forth the fruits of the yet sadder exile from God which many a soul has known. I. THE MEMORY OF WHAT HAS BEEN LOST IS FULL OF SORROW . ( Psalms 137:1 .) "Yea, we sat down and wept." And if, as with God's ancient people, we through sin are banished from God, then, when we... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 137:7-9

The bad moods of good people. The psalm closes with what must be regarded as the unrestrained utterance of over-excitement. The psalmist was in a bad mood; perhaps it did him good, and relieved undue strain, for him thus to utter his bad feelings. But no devices of explanation should be allowed to relieve our conviction that they were very bad and unworthy feelings; and for us the record can but be a warning against cherishing sentiments of vengeance. "Vengeance is mine; I will repay,... read more

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