Psalms 137:2
There on the willows we hung our harps,
BSB
ASV
Upon the willows in the midst thereof We hanged up our harps.
KJV
We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.
On the willows in the midst of it we hung up our instruments. The willow has such a nature: it is indeed a barren tree, and it is said that if anyone takes a drink from it or eats of it, he does not beget children. There, then, we hung up our instruments. Now the instrument is the body of man.
We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. The drooping branches appeared to weep as we did, and so we gave to them our instruments of music; the willows could as well make melody as we, for we had no mind for minstrelsy. In the midst of the willows, or in the midst of the rivers, or in the midst of Babylon, it matters little which, they hung their harps aloft—those harps which once in Zion's halls the soul of music shed.
Whether the request was in curiosity or derision, the answer intimates that a compliance was incongruous with their mournful feelings (Pr 25:20). For joyful songs would imply forgetfulness of their desolated homes and fallen Church. The solemn imprecations on the hand and tongue, if thus forgetful, relate to the cunning or skill in playing, and the power of singing.
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 walk8
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
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…
leads to
So I will silence the sound of your songs, and the music of your lyres will no longer be heard.
Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
Moreover, I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp.
Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
I will remove from the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sounds of joy and gladness and the voices of the bride and bridegroom, for the land will become a wasteland.”
Reached by 3 independent paths from here.
For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am going to remove from this place, before your very eyes and in your days, the sounds of joy and…
Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
Through
Psalms 33:2Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to Him with ten strings.
leads to
Praise Him with the sound of the horn; praise Him with the harp and lyre.
Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth—let your cry ring out, and sing praises!
Through
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…
leads to
O daughter of my people, dress yourselves in sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with bitter wailing, as you would for an only son, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.
Through
Ezekiel 26:13So I will silence the sound of your songs, and the music of your lyres will no longer be heard.
leads to
The joyful tambourines have ceased; the noise of revelers has stopped; the joyful harp is silent.
Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
