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Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

Psalms 137:6

Verse Psalms 137:6. Let my tongue cleave] Let me lose my voice, and all its powers of melody; my tongue, and all its faculty of speech; my ear, and its discernment of sounds; if I do not prefer my country, my people, and the ordinances of my God, beyond all these, and whatever may constitute the chiefest joy I can possess in aught else beside. This is truly patriotic, truly noble and dignified. Such sentiments can only be found in the hearts and mouths of those slaves whom the grace of God has made free.

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See also Psalms 137:6 in other biblical comments:

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    IF I DO NOT REMEMBER THEE - Equivalent to, “If I forget thee.” If I ever fail to remember thee; if I shall ever act as if I had forgotten thee. Singing in a strange land, among those who had perpetrat...

  • 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...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    The exiles indignantly repudiate the idea of doing what would be treason to the memories of Zion. The protest is dramatically expressed in the words which they would have used at the time....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, If I remember thee not (R.V.). Let all power of speech and song desert me. Cp. Job 29:10. _if I prefer not_&c. Lit. _if I exalt not Jerusalem above my...

  • 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 do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. IF I DO NOT REMEMBER THEE, LET MY TONGUE CLEAVE TO THE ROOF OF MY MOUTH - a f...

  • 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...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    תִּדְבַּ֥ק ־לְשֹׁונִ֨י ׀ לְ חִכִּי֮ אִם ־לֹ֪א...

  • 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

    If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my (e) chief joy. (e) The decay of God's religion in their country was so grievous that no joy...

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    The high, &c. The proud and haughty, who exalt themselves, God knoweth afar off; that is, he despiseth the, and setteth them at a distance from him; whilst he stoopeth down to favour and embrace the l...

  • 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 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 DO NOT REMEMBER THEE,.... In prayer, in discourse, in conversation; this is the same as before, to forget, repeated for the confirmation of it; LET MY TONGUE CLEAVE TO THE ROOF OF MY MOUTH; as i...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    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. Ver. 6. _If I do not remember thee_] _Hi gemitus Sanctorum sunt gemitus Spiritus...

  • 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 do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, in an agony of thirst and suffering; IF I PREFER NOT JERUSALEM ABOVE MY CHIEF JOY, literally, "if I do not place Jerusalem abov...

  • Marginal Notes in the King James Version (1611)

    MY CHIEF JOY: _ Heb._ the head of my joy...

  • 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

    REMEMBER THEE WITH AFFECTION AND SYMPATHY, so as to damp my joys. CLEAVE TO THE ROOF OF MY MOUTH; be made uncapable of singing, or speaking, or moving, as it is in some diseases. Compare JOB 29:10 PSA...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Psalms 137:6 remember H2142 (H8799) tongue H3956 cling H1692 (H8799) exalt H5927 (H8686) Jerusalem H3389 chief...

  • 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

    _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 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 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

    1 Thessalonians 3:7; Acts 20:24; Ezekiel 3:26; Isaiah 41:17;...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    If — If I do not value Jerusalem's prosperity more than all other delights....

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