Psalms 137:1 BSB — MannaFest

Psalms 137:1

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept, When we remembered Zion.

KJV

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

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Commentary

2 voices

Jerome

Homily 48, on Psalm 136 (420)

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Sion. If someone is not sick, he does not know how much health is worth. And again, a lame man does not know how much he is worth who is sound of foot. Likewise the blind man does not know the one who sees. All this has been said because the psalm says: "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Sion." Babylon is interpreted as "confusion": therefore Babylon is this world.

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Charles Spurgeon

1834–1892

The Treasury of David, Vol. 7 (1885)

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Water courses were abundant in Babylon, wherein were not only natural streams but artificial canals: it was place of broad rivers and streams. Glad to be away from the noisy streets, the captives sought the river side, where the flow of the waters seemed to be in sympathy with their tears. It was some slight comfort to be out of the crowd, and to have a little breathing room, and therefore they sat down, as if to rest a while and solace themselves in their sorrow.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

10 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
עַ֥ל	'al	at	H5921 →
נַהֲר֨וֹת׀	na.ha.Rot	[the] rivers of	H5104 →
בָּבֶ֗ל	ba.Vel	Babylon	H894 →
שָׁ֣ם	sham	there	H8033 →
יָ֭שַׁבְנוּ	Ya.shav.nu	we sat	H3427 →
גַּם־	gam-	also	H1571 →
בָּכִ֑ינוּ	ba.Khi.nu	we wept	H1058 →
בְּ֝זָכְרֵ֗נוּ	be.za.khe.Re.nu	when remembered we	H2142 →
אֶת־	'et-	<obj.>	H853 →
צִיּֽוֹן׃	tzi.Yon	Zion	H6726 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Ezekiel 1:1
In the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was among the exiles by the River Kebar, the heavens opened and I saw visions of God.
leads to
- Ezekiel 11:24
  And the Spirit lifted me up and carried me back to Chaldea, to the exiles in the vision given by the Spirit of God. After the vision had gone up from me,
- Revelation 19:11
  Then I saw heaven standing open, and there before me was a white horse. And its rider is called Faithful and True. With righteousness He judges and wages war.
- Matthew 3:16
  As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. Suddenly the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and resting on Him.
- Acts 7:56
  “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
- Ezekiel 10:20
  These were the living creatures I had seen beneath the God of Israel by the River Kebar, and I knew that they were cherubim.
Through
Ezekiel 1:3
the word of the LORD came directly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the River Kebar. And there the LORD’s hand was upon him.
leads to
- Ezekiel 3:22
  And there the hand of the LORD was upon me, and He said to me, “Get up, go out to the plain, and there I will speak with you.”
- Ezekiel 3:14
  So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the LORD upon me.
Through
Ezekiel 3:15
I came to the exiles at Tel-abib who dwelt by the River Kebar. And for seven days I sat where they sat and remained there among them, overwhelmed.
leads to
- Job 2:13
  Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw how intense his suffering was.

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On Psalms 137:1

Praying the Hard Psalms — the Imprecatory Problem

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About Psalms

Saul attempts to kill David (the harpist of Israel) — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

Psalms: the study guide →Read chapter 137 →The featured study →

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01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

05Featured studies on this passage

06About Psalms

The record, by era

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

Featured studies on this passage

About Psalms