Psalms 137:3

For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
captive	שׁוֹבֵ֡ינוּ sho.Vei.nu	H7617	to transport into captivity · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
required	שְֽׁאֵל֪וּנוּ she.'e.Lu.nu	H7592	to inquire · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural + pronominal suffix
song	דִּבְרֵי div.rei.Shi-	H1697	a word · noun, common masculine plural construct
wasted	וְתוֹלָלֵ֣ינוּ ve.to.la.Lei.nu	H8437	causing to howl · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
mirth	שִׂמְחָ֑ה sim.Chah	H8057	blithesomeness or glee · noun, common feminine singular absolute
Sing	שִׁ֥ירוּ Shi.ru	H7891	to sing · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
songs	שִׁ֭יר Shir	H7892	a song · noun, common masculine singular absolute
Zion	צִיּֽוֹן tzi.Yon	H6726	Tsijon (as a permanent capital) · proper noun, a place name

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Luke 21:6 As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thro…
Psalms 9:14 That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation.
Lamentations 2:15-16 All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call…
Micah 3:12 Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places…
1 Chronicles 16:7 Then on that day David delivered first this psalm to thank the LORD into the hand of Asaph and his brethren.
Nehemiah 4:2 And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they sacri…
Psalms 65:1 Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion: and unto thee shall the vow be performed.
Psalms 79:1 O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 137:1-6

We have here the daughter of Zion covered with a cloud, and dwelling with the daughter of Babylon; the people of God in tears, but sowing in tears. Observe, I. The mournful posture they were in as to their affairs and as to their spirits. 1. They were posted by the rivers of Babylon, in a strange land, a great way from their own country, whence they were brought as prisoners of war. The land of Babylon was now a house of bondage to that people, as Egypt had been in their beginning. Their conquerors quartered them by the rivers, with design to employ them there, and keep them to work in their galleys; or perhaps they chose it as the most melancholy place, and therefore most suitable to their…

Read the whole note in the console

John Gill on Psalms 137:3

For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song,.... Or, "words of a song" (z). To repeat the words of one of the songs of Zion, as it is afterwards expressed: this the Babylonians did, as the Targum; who were they that carried the Jews into captivity; and this is given as a reason why they hung their harps on willows, and were so sorrowful, because such a request as this was made; and they that wasted us required of us mirth: the Chaldeans, who plundered them of their substance, and reduced their city and temple to heaps of rubbish, as the word (a) used signifies; or who heaped reproaches upon them, as Jarchi: these insisted not only on having the words of a song repeated…

Read the whole note in the console

John Calvin on Psalms 137:1-4

Psalm 137:1-4 1. By the rivers of Babylon there we sat down, we even wept when we remembered thee, O Zion! 2. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. 3. Then they that carried us away captive required of us the words of a song, and mirth when we were in suspense, saying, Sing to us one of the songs of Zion. 4. How shall we sing Jehovah's song in a foreign land? 1. By the rivers of Babylon [178] there we sat down I have elsewhere said, that it is a great mistake to suppose that it is David who here prophetically apprises the people of God of the captivity which should come upon them. The Prophets in speaking of future events employ very different language. What is brought…

The Church Fathers

For there they that led us away captive asked of us the words of songs. The demons, who deceived us and led us away captive, now, as though mocking us and boasting, say to us: "Give us back a word about your faith, and just as when you were in Jerusalem, sing a hymn to God."
— Jerome, Homily 48, on Psalm 136

"For there they that led us captive demanded of us words of songs, and they that led us away, an hymn" [Psalm 137:3]. They demanded of us words of songs and an hymn, who led us captive....We are tempted by the delights of earthly things, and we struggle daily with the suggestions of unlawful pleasures; scarce do we breathe freely even in prayer: we understand that we are captives. But who led us captive? what men? what race? what king? If we are redeemed, we once were captives. Who hath redeemed us? Christ. From whom hath He redeemed us? From the devil. The devil then and his angels led us captive: and they would not lead us, unless we consented....
— Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 137

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Music — Jubal was the inventor of musical instruments (Gen. 4:21). The Hebrews were much given to the cultivation of music. Their whole history and literature afford abundant evidence of this. After the…
Willows — (1.) Heb. ‘arabim (Lev. 23:40; Job 40:22; Isa. 15:7; 44:3, 4; Ps. 137:1, 2). This was supposed to be the weeping willow, called by Linnaeus Salix Babylonica, from the reference in Ps. 137. This tree…
Babylon · Grief of the Jews in — Grief of the Jews in
Country · LOVE OF — LOVE OF
Music · Generally put aside in times of affliction — Generally put aside in times of affliction
Patriotism · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Psalms 137:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 137:1-6

John Gill on Psalms 137:3

John Calvin on Psalms 137:1-4

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Psalms 137:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 137:1-6

John Gill on Psalms 137:3

John Calvin on Psalms 137:1-4

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Psalms 137:1-6

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 137:2-4

Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 137:3