Berean Standard Bible
Psalms 137:2
Psalms 137:2 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.
- New International Version (NIV)There on the poplars we hung our harps,
- English Standard Version (ESV)On the willows there we hung up our lyres.
- New King James Version (NKJV)We hung our harps Upon the willows in the midst of it.
Context of Psalms 137:2
1By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the willows we hung our harps, 3for there our captors requested a song; our tormentors demanded songs of joy: “Sing us a song of Zion.” 4How can we sing a song of the LORD in a foreign land?
Read all of Psalms 137Psalms 137:2 word by word
עַֽל־עֲרָבִ֥ים בְּתוֹכָ֑הּ תָּ֝לִ֗ינוּ כִּנֹּרוֹתֵֽינוּ׃Read the interlinear
Cross-references for Psalms 137:2
- Psalms 33:2Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to Him with ten strings.
- Psalms 81:2Lift up a song, strike the tambourine, play the sweet-sounding harp and lyre.
- Isaiah 24:8The joyful tambourines have ceased; the noise of revelers has stopped; the joyful harp is silent.
- Ezekiel 26:13So I will silence the sound of your songs, and the music of your lyres will no longer be heard.
- Amos 8:10I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation. I will cause everyone to wear sackcloth and every head to be shaved. I will make it like a time of mourning for an only son, and its outcome like a bitter day.
- Revelation 18:22And the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will never ring out in you again. Nor will any craftsmen of any trade be found in you again, nor the sound of a millstone be heard in you again.
Commentaries on Psalms 137:2
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 2We hanged our harps upon the willows - The harps once used to accompany the songs of praise and the service of God in the temple; the harps with which they had sought to beguile their weary hours, and to console their sad spirits in their captivity. The word rendered “willows” - ערבים ‛ărâbiym - used only in the plural, denotes the willow or osier, so called from its white, silvery leaves. Gesenius, Lexicon. Compare Isaiah 15:7. It is probable that the…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 2-4Because the music of Jerusalem was connected to the joy of life in the promised land, the exile took away any reason to sing joyful songs. The Babylonians asked the Judeans to sing and dance for them, but the people were so full of grief that they could not do it. The songs about the Lord celebrate his power and goodness, but his people were now filled with doubt and questions. They hung their harps in the trees, which may show that their joy had come to…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 22. upon the willows--which may have grown there then, if not now; as the palm, which was once common, is now rare in Palestine.Read the comment
- Rashi on Tanakh · v. 2On willows Willows of the brook.Read the comment
Topics related to Psalms 137:2
In the dictionaries
Notes
- 1. Psalms 137:2 Or poplars ↩
Commentaries on Psalms 137
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- The Treasury of David
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
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