the Second Week after Easter
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Green's Literal Translation
Psalms 137:1
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- CondensedParallel Translations
By the rivers of Babylon—there we sat down and weptwhen we remembered Zion.
By the rivers of Bavel, there we sat down. Yes, we wept, when we remembered Tziyon.
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion.
By the rivers in Babylon we sat and cried when we remembered Jerusalem.
By the rivers of Babylon we sit down and weep when we remember Zion.
By the rivers of Babylon, There we [captives] sat down and wept, When we remembered Zion [the city God imprinted on our hearts].
By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down and wept, When we remembered Zion.
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yes, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
By the riuers of Babel we sate, and there wee wept, when we remembred Zion.
By the rivers of Babylon,There we sat and also wept,When we remembered Zion.
By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.
Beside the rivers of Babylon we thought about Jerusalem, and we sat down and cried.
By the rivers of Bavel we sat down and wept as we remembered Tziyon.
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down; yea, we wept when we remembered Zion.
We sat by the rivers in Babylon and cried as we remembered Zion.
BY the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
By the rivers of Babylon we sat down; there we wept when we remembered Zion.
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat, yes, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
By the waters of Babilon we sat downe and wepte, when we remebred Sion.
By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept, When we remembered Zion.
By the rivers of Babylon we were seated, weeping at the memory of Zion,
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
By the riuers of Babylon, there wee sate downe, yea we wept: when we remembred Zion.
By the waters of Babylon we sat downe there: also we wept when we remembred Sion.
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat; and wept when we remembered Sion.
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
The hundrid and sixe and thrittithe salm. On the floodis of Babiloyne there we saten, and wepten; while we bithouyten on Syon.
By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yes, we wept, When we remembered Zion.
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yes, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept When we remembered Zion.
Beside the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept as we thought of Jerusalem.
We sat down and cried by the rivers of Babylon when we remembered Zion.
By the rivers of Babylon— there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion.
By the rivers of Babylon, there, we sat down, yea we wept - when we remembered Zion:
(136-1) Upon the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept: when we remembered Sion:
By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion.
By rivers of Babylon -- There we did sit, Yea, we wept when we remembered Zion.
Alongside Babylon's rivers we sat on the banks; we cried and cried, remembering the good old days in Zion. Alongside the quaking aspens we stacked our unplayed harps; That's where our captors demanded songs, sarcastic and mocking: "Sing us a happy Zion song!"
By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down and wept, When we remembered Zion.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
am cir, 3463, bc cir, 541 - Title The author of this beautiful and affecting elegy is unknown, but the occasion is evident; and it was most probably composed during, or near the close of, the captivity.
the rivers: Genesis 2:10-14, Ezra 8:21, Ezra 8:31, Ezekiel 1:1, there sat, Nehemiah 1:3, Nehemiah 1:4, Nehemiah 2:3, Job 2:12, Job 2:13, Jeremiah 13:17, Jeremiah 13:18, Jeremiah 15:17, Lamentations 2:10, Ezekiel 3:15
we wept: Psalms 42:4, Psalms 102:9-14, Isaiah 66:10, Jeremiah 51:50, Jeremiah 51:51, Lamentations 1:16, Lamentations 2:11, Lamentations 2:18, Lamentations 3:48, Lamentations 3:51, Daniel 9:3, Daniel 10:2, Daniel 10:3, Luke 19:41, Revelation 11:3
Reciprocal: Ezra 8:15 - the river that runneth Job 30:31 - General Psalms 52:1 - goodness Psalms 87:4 - Babylon Psalms 126:5 - that sow Isaiah 15:7 - to the Isaiah 21:2 - all the Isaiah 44:4 - willows Isaiah 52:5 - make Jeremiah 13:4 - go Ezekiel 6:9 - remember Ezekiel 11:24 - into
Gill's Notes on the Bible
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down,.... If by Babylon is meant the country, then the rivers of it are Chebar, Ulai, Tigris, Euphrates, and others; see Ezekiel 1:1; but if the city itself, then only Euphrates, which ran through it; and is expressed by rivers, because of the largeness of it, and because of the several canals cut out of it, for the service of the city; hence Babylon is said to dwell upon many waters, Jeremiah 51:13; upon the banks whereof the captive Jews were; either through choice, where they could be alone, and mourn their fate, indulge their sorrows, and give vent to their grief; or by the order of these who carried them captive, there to be employed, either in taking goods from ships here unloaded, or to repair and maintain the banks of the rivers, or to do some servile work or another; see Ezekiel 1:1; and where they would sometimes "sit down" pensive, as mourners used to do, and lament their case, Job 2:8. Or this phrase may express their residence here, and the continuance and length of their captivity, which was seventy years: yea, Babylon itself may be meant by the waters of it; just as Thebes, in Pindar w is called the Dircaean waters, near to which it was;
yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion; they imitated the flowing stream by which they sat, and swelled it with their tears; they wept for their sins, which brought them thither; and it increased their sorrow, when they called to mind what privileges they had enjoyed in Zion, the city of their solemnities; where they had often seen the tribes of Israel bowing before and worshipping the God of Israel; the daily sacrifices and others offered up; the solemn feasts kept; the songs of Zion, sung by the Levites in delightful harmony; and, above all, the beauty of the Lord their God, his power and glory, while they were inquiring in his sanctuary: and also when they reflected upon the sad condition and melancholy circumstances in which Zion now was; the city, temple, and altar, lying in heaps of rubbish; no worship and service performed; no sacrifices offered, nor songs sung; nor any that came to her solemn feasts; see Lamentations 1:2.
w Pythia, Ode 9. d. v. 6.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
By the rivers of Babylon - The streams, the water-courses, the rivulets. There was properly only one river flowing through Babylon - the Euphrates; but the city was watered, as Damascus now is, by means of canals or water-courses cut from the main river, and conveying the water to different parts of the city. For a description of Babylon, see the introductory notes to Isaiah 13:0. If the reference here is to Babylon proper, or the city, the allusion would be to the Euphrates flowing through it; if to Babylonia, the allusion would be to the Euphrates, and the other rivers which watered the country, as the Tigris, the Chaboras, and the Ulai. As it is most probable that the captive Hebrews were not scattered through the empire, but were concentrated in one or a few places, it is, perhaps, not improper to understand this of Babylon itself.
There we sat down - There we were sitting. Perhaps a little company of friends; perhaps those assembled for worship; perhaps those who happened to come together on some special occasion; or, perhaps, a poetic representation of the general condition of the Hebrew captives, as sitting and meditating on the desolations of their native land.
Yea, we wept - We sat there; we meditated; we wept. Our emotions overpowered us, and we poured forth tears. So now, there is a place in Jerusalem, at the southwest corner of the area on which the temple was built, where the Jews resort on set occasions to weep over the ruins of their city and nation.
When we remembered Zion - When we thought on our native land; its former glory; the wrongs done to it; the desolations there; when we thought of the temple in ruins, and our homes as devastated; when we thought of the happy days which we had spent there, and when we contrasted them with our condition now.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
PSALM CXXXVII
The desolate and afflicted state of the captives in Babylon,
1, 2.
How they were insulted by their enemies, 3, 4.
Their attachment to their country, 5, 6.
Judgments denounced against their enemies, 7-9.
NOTES ON PSALM CXXXVII
The Vulgate, Septuagint, AEthiopic, and Arabic, say, ridiculously enough, a Psalm of David for Jeremiah. Anachronisms with those who wrote the titles to the Psalms were matters of no importance. Jeremiah never was at Babylon; and therefore could have no part in a Psalm that was sung on the banks of its rivers by the Israelitish captives. Neither the Hebrew nor Chaldee has any title; the Syriac attributes it to David. Some think it was sung when they returned from Babylon; others, while they were there. It is a matter of little importance. It was evidently composed during or at the close of the captivity.
Verse Psalms 137:1. By the rivers of Babylon — These might have been the Tigris and Euphrates, or their branches, or streams that flowed into them. In their captivity and dispersion, it was customary for the Jews to hold their religious meetings on the banks of rivers. Mention is made of this Acts 16:13, where we find the Jews of Philippi resorting to a river side, where prayer was wont to be made. And sometimes they built their synagogues here, when they were expelled from the cities.
