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Text -- Psalms 137:5 (NET)

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Context
137:5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand be crippled!
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics

Names, People and Places:
 · Jerusalem the capital city of Israel,a town; the capital of Israel near the southern border of Benjamin


Dictionary Themes and Topics: Willows | Wicked | Readings, Select | Prayer | Patriotism | PSALMS, BOOK OF | Music | Jerusalem | Israel | HAGGAI | GOD, 2 | Forgetting God | Country | Church | more
Table of Contents

Word/Phrase Notes
JFB , Clarke , Calvin , TSK

Word/Phrase Notes
Barnes , Poole , Haydock , Gill

Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes , Geneva Bible

Verse Range Notes
TSK Synopsis , MHCC , Matthew Henry , Keil-Delitzsch , Constable

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Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

JFB: Psa 137:5-6 - -- For joyful songs would imply forgetfulness of their desolated homes and fallen Church. The solemn imprecations on the hand and tongue, if thus forgetf...

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.

Clarke: Psa 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 b...

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 were pleased with our captivity, and could profane holy ordinances by using them as means of sport or pastime to the heathen. No: Jerusalem! we remember thee and thy Divine ordinances: and especially thy King and our God, whose indignation we must bear, because we have sinned against him

Clarke: Psa 137:5 - -- Let my right hand forget - Let me forget the use of my right hand. Let me forget that which is dearest and most profitable to me; and let me lose my...

Let my right hand forget - Let me forget the use of my right hand. Let me forget that which is dearest and most profitable to me; and let me lose my skill in the management of my harp, if I ever prostitute it to please the ungodly multitude or the enemies of my Creator!

Calvin: Psa 137:5 - -- 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 Psalmis...

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 with the solemnity of an oath, that the remembrance of the holy city would be ever engra-yen upon their hearts, and never, under any circumstances, effaced. Having spoken of song, and of the instruments of music, the Psalmist’s appeal is made in terms which corre-spond — that his hand would forager its cunning, and his tongue cleave to his palate, or the roof of his mouth The meaning’ is, that the Lord’s people, while they mourn under personal trials, should be still more deeply affected by public calamities which befall the Church, it being’ reasonable that the zeal of God’s house should have the highest place in our hearts, and rise above all mere private considerations. The second part of the sixth verse some interpret — If this be not my chief joy to see Jerusalem once more in a flourishing condition. Others — Joy will never enter my heart more, till I be gladdened by the Church’s restoration. Both meanings are in my opinion comprehended in the words of the Psalmist. The one cannot be separated from the other; for if we set Jerusalem above our chiefest joy, the height of this joy must arise from the consideration of its prosperity, and, if this be the case, the grief we feel under its calamities will be such as effectually to shut out all worldly joys.

TSK: Psa 137:5 - -- I forget : Psa 84:1, Psa 84:2, Psa 84:10, Psa 102:13, Psa 102:14, Psa 122:5-9; Neh 1:2-4, Neh 2:2, Neh 2:3; Isa 62:1, Isa 62:6, Isa 62:7; Jer 51:50; D...

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Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: Psa 137:5 - -- 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; ...

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 that it was desolate. The remembrance of its calamities pressed hard upon them, and they could not do anything which would seem to imply that they had become unmindful of the sufferings that had come upon their nation. One will not make merry when a wife or child lies dying - or on the day of the funeral - or over the grave of a mother. A joyous and brilliant party, accompanied with music, feasting, dancing, when a friend has been just laid in the grave, when the calamities of war are abroad, when the pestilence is raging in a city, we feel to be untimely, unseemly, and incongruous. So these captives said it would be if they should make merry while their temple was in ruins; while their city was desolate; while their people were captives in a foreign land.

Let my right hand forget her cunning - Let my right hand forget its skill in music - all its skill. If I should now play on the harp - as indicative of joy - let the hand which would be employed in sweeping over its strings become paralyzed and powerless. Let the punishment come where it would seem to be deserved - on the hand which could play at such a time. So Cranmer held the hand which had been employed in signing a recantation of his faith in the fire, until it was burned off, and dropped in the flames.

Poole: Psa 137:5 - -- 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 forgo...

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 playing upon musical instruments and of other actions.

Forget her cunning i.e. lose its skill of playing. In the Hebrew it is only forget , without expressing what, to intimate the extent and generality of this wish; Let it forget or be disenabled not only for playing, but for every action in which it was formerly used.

Haydock: Psa 137:5 - -- Ways. Of Providence, (Calmet) and mercy, &c., Psalm xxiv. 10. (Berthier) --- Some have read, "canticles," Greek: odais, being substituted for G...

Ways. Of Providence, (Calmet) and mercy, &c., Psalm xxiv. 10. (Berthier) ---

Some have read, "canticles," Greek: odais, being substituted for Greek: odois. (Haydock)

Gill: Psa 137:5 - -- 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 Isr...

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 rest; or by the composer of the psalm. The Targum is,

"the voice of the Spirit of God answered and said, "if I forget", &c.''

that is, to weep over the calamities of Jerusalem; which might be thought, if the songs of Zion were sung; or to pray for the restoration of her prosperity and peace; as the church of Christ may be said to be forgotten, when men forget to mourn over its breaches, and show no concern for the reparation of them; or at the death of principal persons, which they lay not to heart; or at the great decay of religion in those that survive; or at the sins of professors, and their disregard to the word and ordinances: also when they forget to pray for her happiness in general; for the good of her members in particular; and especially for her ministers, that they may have assistance and success; and for a blessing on the word and ordinances, and for the conversion of sinners; and when they forget the worship of the Lord in it, and forsake the assembling of themselves together;

let my right hand forget her cunning; her skill in music, particularly in playing on the harp; see 1Sa 16:16; the harp was held in the left hand, and struck with the right; and that more softly or hardly, as the note required, in which was the skill or cunning of using it. Or let this befall me, should I so far forget Jerusalem as to strike the harp to one of the songs of Zion in a strange land: or let it forget any of its works; let it be disabled from working at all; let it be dry and withered, which, Aben Ezra says, is the sense of the word according to some; and Schultens d, from the use of it in Arabic, renders it, let it be "disjointed", or the nerve loosened; see Job 31:22. Or the sense is, let everything that is as dear as my right hand he taken from me: or, as it may be rendered, "my right hand is forgotten" e; that is, should I forget Jerusalem, it would; for that is as my right hand; so Arama. Some choose to translate the words thus, "may thou (O God) forget my right hand" f; that is, to be at my right hand; to be a present help to me in time of need; to hold me by it, and to be the shade of it.

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Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Psa 137:5 Heb “may my right hand forget.” In this case one must supply an object, such as “how to move.” The elliptical nature of the te...

Geneva Bible: Psa 137:5 ( 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 ...

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Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: Psa 137:1-9 - --1 The constancy of the Jews in captivity.7 The prophet curses Edom and Babel.

MHCC: Psa 137:5-9 - --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 affectio...

Matthew Henry: Psa 137:1-6 - -- We have here the daughter of Zion covered with a cloud, and dwelling with the daughter of Babylon; the people of God in tears, but sowing in tears. ...

Keil-Delitzsch: Psa 137:1-6 - -- Beginning with perfects, the Psalm has the appearance of being a Psalm not belonging to the Exile, but written in memory of the Exile. The bank of a...

Constable: Psa 107:1--150:6 - --V. Book 5: chs. 107--150 There are 44 psalms in this section of the Psalter. David composed 15 of these (108-110...

Constable: Psa 137:1-9 - --Psalm 137 The psalmist mourned the plight of the exiled Israelites. He expressed strong love for Zion an...

Constable: Psa 137:5-6 - --2. Love for Jerusalem 137:5-6 The poet promised to remember Jerusalem forever. He called down im...

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Introduction / Outline

JFB: Psalms (Book Introduction) The Hebrew title of this book is Tehilim ("praises" or "hymns"), for a leading feature in its contents is praise, though the word occurs in the title ...

JFB: Psalms (Outline) ALEPH. (Psa 119:1-8). This celebrated Psalm has several peculiarities. It is divided into twenty-two parts or stanzas, denoted by the twenty-two let...

TSK: Psalms (Book Introduction) The Psalms have been the general song of the universal Church; and in their praise, all the Fathers have been unanimously eloquent. Men of all nation...

TSK: Psalms 137 (Chapter Introduction) Overview Psa 137:1, The constancy of the Jews in captivity; Psa 137:7, The prophet curses Edom and Babel.

Poole: Psalms (Book Introduction) OF PSALMS THE ARGUMENT The divine authority of this Book of PSALMS is so certain and evident, that it was never questioned in the church; which b...

Poole: Psalms 137 (Chapter Introduction) THE ARGUMENT The penman of this Psalm is uncertain; the occasion of it was unquestionably the consideration of the Babylonish captivity; and it see...

MHCC: Psalms (Book Introduction) David was the penman of most of the psalms, but some evidently were composed by other writers, and the writers of some are doubtful. But all were writ...

MHCC: Psalms 137 (Chapter Introduction) (Psa 137:1-4) The Jews bewail their captivity. (Psa 137:5-9) Their affection for Jerusalem.

Matthew Henry: Psalms (Book Introduction) An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Book of Psalms We have now before us one of the choicest and most excellent parts of all the Old Te...

Matthew Henry: Psalms 137 (Chapter Introduction) There are divers psalms which are thought to have been penned in the latter days of the Jewish church, when prophecy was near expiring and the cano...

Constable: Psalms (Book Introduction) Introduction Title The title of this book in the Hebrew Bible is Tehillim, which means...

Constable: Psalms (Outline) Outline I. Book 1: chs. 1-41 II. Book 2: chs. 42-72 III. Book 3: chs. 73...

Constable: Psalms Psalms Bibliography Allen, Ronald B. "Evidence from Psalm 89." In A Case for Premillennialism: A New Consensus,...

Haydock: Psalms (Book Introduction) THE BOOK OF PSALMS. INTRODUCTION. The Psalms are called by the Hebrew, Tehillim; that is, hymns of praise. The author, of a great part of ...

Gill: Psalms (Book Introduction) INTRODUCTION TO PSALMS The title of this book may be rendered "the Book of Praises", or "Hymns"; the psalm which our Lord sung at the passover is c...

Gill: Psalms 137 (Chapter Introduction) INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 137 The occasion of this psalm was the captivity of the Jews in Babylon, and the treatment they met with there; either as for...

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