Psalms 137:7–9, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Psalms 137:7–9
Exile memory, silenced song, and a horrific wish: Edom, Babylon, and the final violent wish
Memory turns on Edom's shout in Jerusalem's crashing day
Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.
The second movement is not a song. It is a plea that God remember a relative nation's cheer while Jerusalem was being torn to the foundation. Edom's rase it is the soundtrack of demolition. The singers, who would not forget Zion, now ask God not to forget that shout.
The last wish names a atrocity and wants it returned; do not baptize it
O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.
The poem speaks the wish plainly: may Babylon be paid in the same coin, including the killing of infants against stone—the horror of siege that Babylon had dealt. Lex talionis as grief, not as an ideal. This is what being wasted sounds like when it finally talks. It is not a divine command to the reader. It is not a holy beatitude. It is not a warrant for modern war, collective punishment, or the targeting of children. Name the wish. Do not bless it. Do not pretend the psalm did not say it.
How this should shape us
Let God remember cruelty; do not appoint yourself the one who dashes anyone. Tell the truth that exile breeds this wish. Never use these verses to justify killing children, bombing a people, or calling atrocity happiness. If the lines undo you, that is nearer the psalm than treating them as a strategy.
Teach it back
Explain Psalms 137:7–9 in your own words. Name the poetic voice and movement, trace its place in Psalm 137 and Book V, identify one exact source control or uncertainty, and reject one use the passage does not authorize.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do responsible readings differ?
Best judgment: The final wish voices traumatized rage after Babylonian violence; it does not bless killing children, authorize revenge, or identify modern peoples as Edom or Babylon.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Psalms 137:7–9, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ps.xml, OSIS 137:7–9
Supports: Verse-level controls for poetic syntax, imagery, older KJV language, textual issues, headings, and alternatives in Psalms 137:7–9.
Official NET Bible Psalm 137 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 137:7–9
Supports: Five-book, genre, poetic, historical, theological, liturgical, communal, and reception synthesis with visible limits.
Enter the Bible Psalms course, Introductory Issues: individual and communal lament, from lament to praise, and Bible in the World; applied to Psalms 137:7–9
Supports: Ancient Greek wording, numbering, division, and superscription evidence where it materially clarifies translation or reception.
NETS Psalms, Pietersma introduction pp. 542–543 and exact Greek translation headed Ps 137 for Psalms 137:7–9
Supports: Major historical, literary, covenantal, ethical, and reception approaches to curses and enemy language.
Simango and Krüger, 'An Overview of the Study of Imprecatory Psalms,' OTE 29.3 (2016), pp. 581–600, complete approach survey; applied to Psalms 137:7–9
Supports: Imprecation retained as difficult prayer and communal speech without converting violent wishes into commands or erasing Jewish reception.
deClaissé-Walford, 'Embracing the Psalter's imprecatory words,' Acta Theologica Suppl. 32 (2021), pp. 275–292, especially literary, liturgical, trauma, and ethical proposal; applied to Psalms 137:7–9
Supports: Traumatized exile speech and moral criticism kept visible while child-killing and revenge are explicitly rejected.
Korn, 'Critiquing the Moral Failings in the Bible' (2015), section treating Psalm 137:7–9; applied to Psalms 137:7–9
Supports: Communication safeguards against romanticizing, sensationalizing, diagnosing, blaming, or simplifying despair, isolation, death wishes, and severe loss; not exegesis.
WHO, Preventing Suicide: A Resource for Media Professionals, Update 2023, quick guide p. xiii and dos and don'ts pp. 11–16; applied only to modern safety-aware presentation of Psalms 137:7–9
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Psalms 137:7–9, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Psalms
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ps.xml, OSIS 137:7–9
Open the fixed Hebrew Psalms file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Notes: Psalms 1-150
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, current official online edition
Supports: Verse-level controls for poetic syntax, imagery, older KJV language, textual issues, headings, and alternatives in Psalms 137:7–9.
Exact location: Official NET Bible Psalm 137 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 137:7–9
Open the official NET Psalms notes ↗modern scholarly book course
Psalms course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, theological themes, and Bible in the world
Fred Gaiser; revised by Nicholas Schaser
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, revised May 2024
Supports: Five-book, genre, poetic, historical, theological, liturgical, communal, and reception synthesis with visible limits.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Psalms course, Introductory Issues: individual and communal lament, from lament to praise, and Bible in the World; applied to Psalms 137:7–9
Open the Enter the Bible Psalms course ↗ancient greek text translation and introduction
A New English Translation of the Septuagint: Psalms
Albert Pietersma
International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies; Oxford University Press, 2009
Supports: Ancient Greek wording, numbering, division, and superscription evidence where it materially clarifies translation or reception.
Exact location: NETS Psalms, Pietersma introduction pp. 542–543 and exact Greek translation headed Ps 137 for Psalms 137:7–9
Open NETS Psalms ↗peer reviewed open access research overview
An Overview of the Study of Imprecatory Psalms: Reformed and Evangelical Approaches to the Interpretation of Imprecatory Psalms
Daniel Simango and P. Paul Krüger
Old Testament Essays 29.3, 2016
Supports: Major historical, literary, covenantal, ethical, and reception approaches to curses and enemy language.
Exact location: Simango and Krüger, 'An Overview of the Study of Imprecatory Psalms,' OTE 29.3 (2016), pp. 581–600, complete approach survey; applied to Psalms 137:7–9
Open the imprecatory-psalm overview ↗peer reviewed open access literary and ethical study
Embracing the Psalter's imprecatory words in the 21st century
Nancy L. deClaissé-Walford
Acta Theologica Supplementum 32, 2021
Supports: Imprecation retained as difficult prayer and communal speech without converting violent wishes into commands or erasing Jewish reception.
Exact location: deClaissé-Walford, 'Embracing the Psalter's imprecatory words,' Acta Theologica Suppl. 32 (2021), pp. 275–292, especially literary, liturgical, trauma, and ethical proposal; applied to Psalms 137:7–9
Open deClaissé-Walford on imprecation ↗modern jewish ethical and reception study
Critiquing the Moral Failings in the Bible
Eugene Korn
TheTorah.com, 2015
Supports: Traumatized exile speech and moral criticism kept visible while child-killing and revenge are explicitly rejected.
Exact location: Korn, 'Critiquing the Moral Failings in the Bible' (2015), section treating Psalm 137:7–9; applied to Psalms 137:7–9
Open Korn on morally difficult biblical speech ↗public health communication guidance
Preventing Suicide: A Resource for Media Professionals, Update 2023
World Health Organization
World Health Organization, 2023
Supports: Communication safeguards against romanticizing, sensationalizing, diagnosing, blaming, or simplifying despair, isolation, death wishes, and severe loss; not exegesis.
Exact location: WHO, Preventing Suicide: A Resource for Media Professionals, Update 2023, quick guide p. xiii and dos and don'ts pp. 11–16; applied only to modern safety-aware presentation of Psalms 137:7–9
Open the WHO communication guide ↗