Psalms 137:8-9

137:8 O daughter Babylon, soon to be devastated! ¹ 

How blessed will be the one who repays you

for what you dished out to us! ² 

137:9 How blessed will be the one who grabs your babies

and smashes them on a rock! ³ 

Isaiah 13:18

13:18 Their arrows will cut young men to ribbons; ⁴ 

they have no compassion on a person’s offspring, ⁵ 

they will not ⁶  look with pity on children.

Matthew 27:25

27:25 In ⁷  reply all the people said, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!”

Luke 11:50-51

11:50 so that this generation may be held accountable ⁸  for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning ⁹  of the world, ¹⁰  11:51 from the blood of Abel ¹¹  to the blood of Zechariah, ¹²  who was killed ¹³  between the altar and the sanctuary. ¹⁴  Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against ¹⁵  this generation.

[137:8]  ¹ tn Heb “O devastated daughter of Babylon.” The psalmist dramatically anticipates Babylon’s demise.

[137:8]  ² tn Heb “O the happiness of the one who repays you your wage which you paid to us.”

[137:9]  ³ sn For other references to the wholesale slaughter of babies in the context of ancient Near Eastern warfare, see 2 Kgs 8:12; Isa 13:16; Hos 13:16; Nah 3:10.

[13:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “and bows cut to bits young men.” “Bows” stands by metonymy for arrows.

[13:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “the fruit of the womb.”

[13:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “their eye does not.” Here “eye” is a metonymy for the whole person.

[27:25]  ⁷ tn Grk “answering, all the people said.” This construction is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation.

[11:50]  ⁸ tn Or “that this generation may be charged with”; or “the blood of all the prophets… may be required from this generation.” This is a warning of judgment. These people are responsible for the shedding of prophetic blood.

[11:50]  ⁹ tn Or “foundation.” However, this does not suggest a time to the modern reader.

[11:50]  ¹⁰ tn The order of the clauses in this complicated sentence has been rearranged to simplify it for the modern reader.

[11:51]  ¹¹ sn Gen 4:10 indicates that Abel’s blood cried out for justice.

[11:51]  ¹² sn It is not clear which Zechariah is meant here. It is probably the person mentioned in 2 Chr 24:20-25.

[11:51]  ¹³ tn Or “who perished.”

[11:51]  ¹⁴ tn Or “and the temple”; Grk “and the house,” but in this context a reference to the house of God as a place of sanctuary.

[11:51]  ¹⁵ tn Or “required from.”