English Standard Version
Psalms 137:2
2On the willows there we hung up our lyres.
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,
- New King James Version (NKJV)We hung our harps Upon the willows in the midst of it.
- New Living Translation (NLT)We put away our harps, hanging them on the branches of poplar trees.
Context of Psalms 137:2
1By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung up our lyres. 3For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!" 4How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?
Read all of Psalms 137Psalms 137:2 word by word
עַֽל־עֲרָבִ֥ים בְּתוֹכָ֑הּ תָּ֝לִ֗ינוּ כִּנֹּרוֹתֵֽינוּ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Psalms 137:2
- Psalms 33:2Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!
- Psalms 81:2Raise a song; sound the tambourine, the sweet lyre with the harp.
- Isaiah 24:8The mirth of the tambourines is stilled, the noise of the jubilant has ceased, the mirth of the lyre is stilled.
- Ezekiel 26:13And I will stop the music of your songs, and the sound of your lyres shall be heard no more.
- Amos 8:10I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on every waist and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.
- Revelation 18:22and the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will be heard in you no more, and a craftsman of any craft will be found in you no more, and the sound of the mill will be heard in you no more,
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
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
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries