Psalms 137 · Verse 3

Psalms 137:3

For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
Psalms 137:3, King James Version

Psalms 137:3 in other translations

BSBfor there our captors requested a song; our tormentors demanded songs of joy: “Sing us a song of Zion.”
WEBFor there, those who led us captive asked us for songs. Those who tormented us demanded songs of joy: “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
ASVFor there they that led us captive required of us songs, And they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
YLTFor there our captors asked us the words of a song, And our spoilers--joy: ‘Sing ye to us of a song of Zion.'
DARBYFor there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that made us wail required mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
BBEFor there those who had taken us prisoners made request for a song; and those who had taken away all we had gave us orders to be glad, saying, Give us one of the songs of Zion.
WebsterFor there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.

What does Psalms 137:3 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 137:3-4
3-4. Whether the request was in curiosity or derision, the answer intimates that a compliance was incongruous with their mournful feelings (Pr 25:20).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 3 They that carried us away captive required of us a song - This was as unreasonable as it was insulting. How could they who had reduced us to slavery, and dragged us in chains from our own beautiful land and privileges, expect us to sing a sacred ode to please them, who were enemies both to us and to our God? And how could those who wasted us expect mirth from people in captivity, deprived of all their possessions, and in the most abject state of poverty and oppression?

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Psalms 137:1-4

Their enemies had carried the Jews captive from their own land. To complete their woes, they insulted over them; they required of them mirth and a song. This was very barbarous; also profane, for no songs would serve but the songs of Zion. Scoffers are not to be compiled with. They do not say, How shall we sing, when we are so much in sorrow? but, It is the Lord's song, therefore we dare not sing it among idolaters.

Read the full comment on Psalms 137:1-4 →

Psalms 137:3 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

כִּ֤יkiforH3588
שָׁ֨םshamthereH8033
שְֽׁאֵל֪וּנוּshe.'e.Lu.nuthey asked usH7592
שׁוֹבֵ֡ינוּsho.Vei.nucaptors ourH7617
דִּבְרֵי\־div.rei.Shi-words ofH1697
שִׁ֭ירShira songH7892
וְתוֹלָלֵ֣ינוּve.to.la.Lei.nuand mockers ourH8437
שִׂמְחָ֑הsim.ChahgladnessH8057
שִׁ֥ירוּShi.rusingH7891
לָ֝֗נוּLa.nufor us
מִשִּׁ֥ירmi.Shirone of [the] song[s] ofH7892
צִיּֽוֹן\׃tzi.YonZionH6726

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Psalms 137:3

  • Luke 21:6

    As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

  • Psalms 9:14

    That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation.

  • Lamentations 2:15-16

    All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth? All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed her up: certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it.

  • Micah 3:12

    Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.

  • Jeremiah 9:11

    And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.

  • Psalms 80:6

    Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves.

  • Revelation 14:1-3

    And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.

  • Nehemiah 4:2

    And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?

  • Psalms 65:1

    To the chief Musician, A Psalm and Song of David. Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion: and unto thee shall the vow be performed.

  • Isaiah 35:10

    And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

  • Psalms 79:1

    A Psalm of Asaph. O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.

  • Jeremiah 26:18

    Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
For there.
123:3,4; La 2:15,16
a song. Heb. the words of a song. wasted us. Heb. laid uson heaps.
79:1; Ne 4:2; Jer 9:11; 26:18; Mic 3:12; Lu 21:6
the songs of Zion.
9:14; 65:1; 1Ch 15:27; 16:7; Isa 35:10; 51:11; Jer 31:12,13
Re 14:1-3

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Psalms 137:2

    We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.

  • Psalms 137:3

    For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.

  • Psalms 137:4

    How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?

Read all of Psalms 137

Psalms 137:3 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Y los que allí nos habían llevado cautivos nos pedían que cantásemos, y los que nos habían desolado nos pedían alegría, diciendo:
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Car là, ceux qui nous avaient emmenés captifs nous demandaient des cantiques, et ceux qui nous faisaient gémir, de la joie: Chantez-nous un des cantiques de Sion.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Denn die uns gefangen weggeführt hatten, forderten daselbst von uns die Worte eines Liedes, und die uns wehklagen machten, Freude: "Singet uns eines von Zions Liedern!"
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		In quacumque die invocavero te, exaudi me; multiplicabis in anima mea virtutem.