Psalms 137:2

"Upon the willows in the midst thereof

We hanged up our harps.

For there they that led us captive required of us songs,

And they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying,

Sing us one of the songs of Zion."

The willows were a quick-growth tree that sprang up in abundance along the many canals of the Euphrates.

"They that led us captive required of us songs." The songs of the captives would have been considered as sport or entertainment by their masters; and the very fact of their hanging their harps on the willows indicates that they unwillingly complied with such demands, muttering to themselves, perhaps, the curses upon themselves and their terrible imprecations upon the enemy.

The marginal readings here substitute "words of songs" for "songs" in Psalms 137:3a and "tormentors" for "them that wasted us" in Psalms 137:3b. Kidner stated that, "`Tormentors' here is as likely a meaning as most of the others that have been proposed or substituted for this expression, which is found only here in the Bible."[2]

It was the "words" of the Jewish songs which the captors wished to hear, because the poor status of the captives was a stark and embarrassing contrast to the triumphant words of the hymns of the Chosen People.

"Them that wasted us, or `tormentors'" (Psalms 137:3b). The Babylonian slave masters were a cruel, sadistic company of evil men who made sport of the helpless captives, forcing them into actions that appeared mirthful to the captors. The picture that emerges here is one of pity and sympathy for the oppressed.