Psalm 137
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Original Language
Psalms 137— Hebrew word study · with the Hebrew tradition
How to read a word below: the Hebrewword, then how it sounds, then what it means, then its number in Strong’s concordance, which is the key every lexicon and concordance uses (H for Hebrew and Aramaic, G for Greek). Square brackets hold a word the English supplies that the Hebrew does not, angle brackets name a word that does a grammatical job rather than carrying a meaning, and the mark ס or פ is where the Hebrew manuscripts end a paragraph.
1By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.
Rashi on Psalms 137:1
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat when we went down into exile, and Nebuchadnezzar asked them to sing for him as they used to sing on the stage.
Read it in full at Sefaria · The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg
2There 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?
5If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand cease to function.
Rashi on Psalms 137:5
If I forget you, O Jerusalem The congregation of Israel says this.
Read it in full at Sefaria · The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg
6May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem as my greatest joy!
Rashi on Psalms 137:6
If I do not bring up Jerusalem The remembrance of the mourning of its destruction I shall bring up to mention at the head of every joyous occasion of mine.
Read it in full at Sefaria · The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg
7Remember, O LORD, the sons of Edom on the day Jerusalem fell: “Destroy it,” they said, “tear it down to its foundations!”
8O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, blessed is he who repays you as you have done to us.
9Blessed is he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.