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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Psalms 137:5

If I forget thee, O Jerusalem To have consented would have seemed an act of unfaithfulness to Zion. Some of the exiles did forget the "holy mountain" (Isaiah 65:11). For the imprecation as a solemn asseveration cp. Job 31:21-22.

forgether cunning] So the aposiopesis is admirably completed in the Great Bible of 1540. Less forcibly the LXX and Jer. read the verb as a passive, -Let my right hand be forgotten," which is the rendering of Coverdale (1535), retained in the first edition of the Great Bible.

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See also Psalms 137:5 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse Psalms 137:5. _IF I FORGET THEE, O JERUSALEM_] Such conduct would be, in effect, a renunciation of our land a tacit acknowledgment that we were reconciled to our bondage; a concession that we w...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    IF I FORGET THEE, O JERUSALEM - The meaning here is, that to sing in such circumstances would seem to imply that they had forgotten Jerusalem; that they were unmindful of its sorrows, and cared not th...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    Psalms 137 Remembering the Exile This Psalm is in remembrance of the Babylonian captivity written by an unknown person. Some have named Jeremiah, but he was not in Babylon. The Psalm expresseth the...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    CXXXVII. THE BITTER MEMORY OF BABYLON. The vivid picture of the exiles in their home-sickness, the mockery of their foreign masters, their love for Zion, the mention of Edom, and the savage thirst for...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    IF. FORGET... DO NOT REMEMBER. The writer's then present personal declaration. LET MY RIGHT HAND FORGET. Supply "me" for the Ellipsis. Some codices, with Septuagint and Vulgate, read "let my right ha...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    LET MY RIGHT HAND FORGET HER CUNNING, &C.— There is nothing for _her cunning_ in the original. The plain meaning is, _"May my right hand forget to play_ upon the harp; _may my tongue cleave to the roo...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    PSALMS 137 DESCRIPTIVE TITLE A Returned Levite's Memories of Babylon, Apostrophe to Jerusalem, and Imprecations on Edom and on Babylon. ANALYSIS Stanza I., Psalms 137:1-3, A Returned Captive's Reco...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. IF I FORGET THEE, O JERUSALEM, LET MY RIGHT HAND FORGET (HER CUNNING) - let my right hand no longer perform its function of play...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    Forget _her cunning_] i.e. her skill in playing on the harp....

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    A lifelike memorial of the bitter experiences of exile concluding with (_a_) a strong expression of patriotism, and (_b_) an outburst of hatred against the enemies of Jerusalem. Probably written soon...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    Psalms 107:150 _GORDON CHURCHYARD_ BY THE RIVERS IN BABYLON PSALMS 137 Jesus said, "You have heard that people used to say, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, Do not fig...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    HER CUNNING — _i.e.,_ the skill of playing on the harp. If at such a moment the poet can so far forget the miserable bondage of Jerusalem as to strike the strings in joy, may his hand for ever lose th...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    אִֽם ־אֶשְׁכָּחֵ֥ךְ יְֽרוּשָׁלִָ֗ם תִּשְׁכַּ֥ח יְמִינִֽי׃...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    Psalms 137:1 THE captivity is past, as the tenses in Psalms 137:1 show, and as is manifest from the very fact that its miseries have become themes for a psalm. Grief must be somewhat removed before it...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

      LOYALTY IN ADVERSITY Psalms 137:1-9 It seems as if the exiles had withdrawn from the city, with its distractions, to some natural retreat beside the Euphrates. They had brought their harps with t...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    This is a song of memory. From the midst of the circumstances of restoration the singer looks back to days of captivity and sorrow. The picture is graphic. Babylon was far from their own land, and far...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    (d) If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget [her cunning]. (d) Even the faithful are touched by their particular griefs, yet the common sorrow of the Church is most grievous to them,...

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    _Ways. Of Providence, (Calmet) and mercy, &c., Psalm xxiv. 10. (Berthier) --- Some have read, "canticles," Greek: odais, being substituted for Greek: odois. (Haydock)_...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    I hope the Lord's Israel at all times feels somewhat of this same spirit. It is blessed to feel the love of Jesus in seasons when Jesus is opposed, and to have this testimony in the worst of times. Pe...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    5._If I shall forget thee, O Jerusalem! _This confirms what was said in the former verse, and leaves us in no difficulty to understand what the Psalmist meant by it. For here God’s people declare, and...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    Psalms 137 refers, and alone does to give the full history of Israel's sorrows to Babylon, which has only a mystic fulfillment in the latter days, but has its importance, because at that time was the...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    IF I FORGET THEE, O JERUSALEM,.... This was said by one or everyone of the Levites; or singers, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi; or by the congregation of Israel, as Jarchi; by one of them, in the name of the...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget [her cunning]. Ver. 5. _If I forget thee, O Jerusalem_] As I might seem to do, should I herein gratify these idolaters; or otherwise obey them,...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Psalms 137:5. _If I forget thee, O Jerusalem_ If I do not retain a deep and sorrowful sense of thy desolations, though never so far removed from thee; or if I indulge myself in mirth and jollity, as i...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    SONG OF GRIEF OF THE CAPTIVE JEWS. The unknown poet here records the deep grief and mourning of the Jews during the Babylonian captivity and includes a prayer for the destruction of their enemies, si...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, the Sanctuary with the worship of Jehovah, LET MY RIGHT HAND FORGET HER CUNNING, the power of motion in general, and especially her skill with the harp....

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    5-9 What we love, we love to think of. Those that rejoice in God, for his sake make Jerusalem their joy. They stedfastly resolved to keep up this affection. When suffering, we should recollect with g...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    IF I FORGET THEE; if I do not retain a deep and sorrowful sense of thy ruin and misery, or if I indulge myself in mirth and jollity, as if I had forgotten thee. RIGHT HAND; the chief instrument of pla...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Psalms 137:5 forget H7911 (H8799) Jerusalem H3389 hand H3225 forget H7911 (H8799) I forget -...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    Psalms 137:1. _By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof._ Babylon was full of canals and rivers; t...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Lamentation over the sad condition of God's people in captivity. CHARACTERS: God. CONCLUSION: Those who are glad at the calamities that sometimes in God's providence come to His people, sh...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    This psalm has no title, but it was evidently composed in Babylon; and it would seem from the latter part, only a little while before Cyrus took the city. It was probably composed by the prophet Hagga...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea,_ we wept. THE TEARS OF MEMORY AND THE CRY FOR VENGEANCE I. The tears of memory (Psalms 137:1). 1. Their sorrow had reference to the loss of the hi...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning._ RECOLLECTION AND PREFERENCE OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST I. The object of recollection and preference by the Christian. The Church o...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    PSALM PSALM—NOTE ON PSALMS 137:1. This community lament remembers the Babylonian captivity. It provides words by which the returned exiles can express their loyalty to Jerusalem and pray that God woul...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    PSALM—NOTE ON PSALMS 137:4 To a faithful Judean, the request of v. Psalms 137:3 would be like asking him to FORGET... JERUSALEM, which would be an act of treachery

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    INTRODUCTION “There can be no doubt whatever,” says Perowne, “as to the time when this Psalm was written. It expresses the feeling of an exile who has but just returned from the land of his captivity....

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION "THE most direct and striking reminiscence of the Babylonish exile in the whole Psalter" (Professor Alexander). The psalm divides into two parts. First, we are given a picture of the unhapp...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Psa 137:1-9 is a psalm of captivity written many years after David's time, written by one of those who were captive in Babylon. By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yes, we wept, when we remem...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    Daniel 6:10; Daniel 6:11; Isaiah 62:1; Isaiah 62:6; Isaiah 62:7;...

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