Psalms 137:9
in Psalms 137Blessed is he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones Against the rock.
KJV
Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.
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This verse in Psalms 137
Commentary
6 notes on this verseBlessed is he who shall take hold of and dash your little ones against the rock. The "little ones" are said to be thoughts. For example: I have seen a woman, I have desired her: at once, if I do not cut off that desire, and, as it were, take it by the foot and dash it against the rock while the desire is small, it cannot afterwards be cut off when it has grown. Blessed, then, is he who cuts it off at once, and dashes it against the rock. And the Rock is Christ.
This site's exposition
O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction
on Psalms 137:8-9
The exiles who sat by the rivers ask for Babylon to be repaid in the measure Babylon dealt, down to her infants on the rocks. Isaiah 13:16 had already said that Babylon's infants would be dashed to pieces, and Jeremiah 51:24 that the LORD would repay Babylon for what she did in Zion. The psalm asks the LORD for a doom He had spoken.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
on Psalms 137:8-9
And David, pitying her, says, "O wretched daughter of Babylon." Wretched indeed, as being the daughter of Babylon, when she ceased to be the daughter of Jerusalem. And yet he calls for a healer for her and says, "Blessed is he who shall take your little ones and dash them against the rock."
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones. That takes the infants from their mothers' breasts, or out of their arms, and dashes out their brains against a "rock", as the word (k) signifies; which, though it may seem a piece of cruelty, was but a just retaliation; the Babylonians having done the same to the Jewish children, and is foretold elsewhere should be done to theirs, Isa 13:
on Psalms 137:8-9
Happy shall those be that do it; for they are fulfilling God's counsels; and therefore he calls Cyrus, who did it, his servant, his shepherd, his anointed ( Isa. xliv. 1 ), and the soldiers that were employed in it his sanctified ones, Isa. xiii. They are making way for the enlargement of God's Israel, and happy are those who are in any way serviceable to that.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones. Fierce was the heart of the Jew who had seen his beloved city the scene of such terrific butchery. His heart pronounced like sentence upon Babylon. She should be scourged with her own whip of wire. The desire for righteous retribution is rather the spirit of the law than of the gospel; and yet in moments of righteous wrath the old fire will burn; and while justice survives in the human breast it will not lack for fuel among the various tyrannies which still survive.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַשְׁרֵ֤י׀ | ʾashrei | how blessed! | H835 → | 45 times |
| שֶׁיֹּאחֵ֓ז | sheiyochez | [is one] who he will seize | H270 → | 67 times |
| וְנִפֵּ֬ץ | venipetz | and he will smash | H5310 → | |
| אֶֽת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| עֹ֝לָלַ֗יִךְ | ʾolalayikh | children your | H5768 → | 20 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| הַסָּֽלַע׃ | hasala' | the rock | H5553 → | 58 times |
אַשְׁרֵ֤י׀how blessed!
ʾashreiH835 →45 times
שֶׁיֹּאחֵ֓ז[is one] who he will seize
sheiyochezH270 →67 times
וְנִפֵּ֬ץand he will smash
venipetzH5310 →
אֶֽת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
עֹ֝לָלַ֗יִךְchildren your
ʾolalayikhH5768 →20 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
הַסָּֽלַע׃the rock
hasala'H5553 →58 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
2 Kings 8:12“Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael. “Because I know the evil you will do to the Israelites,” Elisha replied. “You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword,…
it leads to
- Hosea 13:16
Samaria will bear her guilt because she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Nahum 3:10
Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity. Her infants were dashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her dignitaries, and all her nobles were bound in…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 2 Kings 13:3
So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He delivered them continually into the hands of Hazael king of Aram and his son Ben-hadad.
- 2 Kings 12:17
At that time Hazael king of Aram marched up and fought against Gath and captured it. Then he decided to attack Jerusalem.
- Hosea 13:16
Through
Hosea 13:16Samaria will bear her guilt because she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.
it leads to
- 2 Kings 15:16
At that time Menahem, starting from Tirzah, attacked Tiphsah and everyone in its vicinity, because they would not open their gates. So he attacked Tiphsah and ripped open all the pregnant women.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 13:16
Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes, their houses will be looted, and their wives will be ravished.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 137:8–9
O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, blessed is he who repays you as you have done to us.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 2 Kings 8:12
“Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael. “Because I know the evil you will do to the Israelites,” Elisha replied. “You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword,…
- 2 Kings 15:16
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Psalms
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Ambrose of Milan, Concerning Repentance 2.11.106; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 7; Jerome, Homily 48, on Psalm 136; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.