By the Rivers of Babylon

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down.Yes, we wept, when we remembered Zion.

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.

The psalm sets the scene: beside the rivers of Babylon, sitting down and weeping. The tears come from memory, when they remembered Zion.

Also read Daniel 9:3, Lamentations 2:18, Revelation 11:3, Luke 19:41

On the willows in that land,we hung up our harps.

We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.

The captives hang up their harps on the willows. Instruments meant for music are put away, a sign that the singing has stopped.

Also read Ezekiel 26:13, Amos 8:10, Psalm 81:2, Isaiah 24:8

For there, those who led us captive asked us for songs.Those who tormented us demanded songs of joy:“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

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.

The captors demand songs, and specifically songs of joy from Zion. The psalm calls them tormentors, so the request reads as mockery.

Also read Psalm 65:1, Micah 3:12, Revelation 14:1-3, Isaiah 51:11

How can we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land?

How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a strange land?

This is the psalm's central question. How can the LORD's song be sung in a foreign land, far from Zion and on the orders of the people who took them there.

Also read Ecclesiastes 3:4, Lamentations 5:14-15, Isaiah 49:21, Amos 8:3

If I forget you, Jerusalem,let my right hand forget its skill.

If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.

The speaker swears an oath. If they forget Jerusalem, their right hand should forget its skill, the hand that would play the harp.

Also read Jeremiah 51:50, Psalm 102:13-14, Nehemiah 1:2-4, Zechariah 11:17

Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I don’t remember you,if I don’t prefer Jerusalem above my chief joy.

If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.

The oath continues with the tongue, the part that would sing. If the speaker does not remember Jerusalem and prefer it above their chief joy, their tongue should stick to the roof of their mouth.

Also read Psalm 84:10, Lamentations 4:4, Ezekiel 3:26, Philippians 1:20

Remember, LORD, against the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem,who said, “Raze it!Raze it even to its foundation!”

Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.

The anger begins with Edom. The LORD is asked to remember that on the day of Jerusalem the children of Edom shouted for the city to be razed to its foundation.

Also read Jeremiah 49:7-22, Hosea 7:2, Ezekiel 25:12-14, Isaiah 63:1-6

Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,he will be happy who repays you,as you have done to us.

O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.

Babylon is addressed directly as a daughter doomed to destruction. The speaker calls happy the one who repays Babylon as it has done to us, a demand for equal payback.

Also read Zechariah 2:7, Isaiah 13:1-22, Revelation 18:6, Isaiah 47:1-15

Happy shall he be,who takes and dashes your little ones against the rock.

Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.

This verse calls happy whoever takes Babylon's little ones and dashes them against the rock. It follows directly from verse 8, which asks for Babylon to be repaid as it has done to us. The psalm records what captives said in grief and rage, and it adds no comment of its own.

Also read Isaiah 13:16, Hosea 10:14, 2 Kings 8:12, Hosea 13:16