Psalm 137 – Skeptic's Annotated Bible answered

A response and reply to the notes on Psalm 137 in the Skeptic's Annotated Bible (SAB).

King James Version

SAB comment

My comment


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

By the waters of Babylon
(Philip Hermogenes Calderon, 1852)

2 We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.

3 For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.

4 How shall we sing the LORD’S song in a strange land?

5 If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.

6 If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.

7 Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.

8 O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.

9 Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.

"Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones."
What the Bible says about children and family values
Babylon, who had taken Israel captive, had taken Israel's little ones and dashed them against the stones, see 2 Chr. 36:17. And so would the Medes and the Persians do unto the Babylonians. They are called happy, because they are performing a just retaliation.
See also Were the Jews happy about babies being dashed against rocks? and they note that: “The Bible simply records the emotions of the people who were doing the deeds, as unpleasant as it was.”