Psalm 137 2

Psalm 137:2 kjv

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

Psalm 137:2 nkjv

We hung our harps Upon the willows in the midst of it.

Psalm 137:2 niv

There on the poplars we hung our harps,

Psalm 137:2 esv

On the willows there we hung up our lyres.

Psalm 137:2 nlt

We put away our harps,
hanging them on the branches of poplar trees.

Psalm 137 verses

Psalm 137 2 Meaning

Psalm 137:2 graphically portrays the deep despair and profound sorrow of the Judean exiles held captive in Babylon. By hanging their harps upon the willows, they symbolize a complete cessation of their accustomed joyous worship and musical expression. This act signifies their inability or refusal to engage in sacred song or celebratory praise in a foreign land while their beloved Zion lay in ruins and their people were in bondage. It communicates a state of overwhelming grief where the heart cannot produce a melody.

Psalm 137 2 Context

Psalm 137 is a lament originating from the painful experience of the Jewish people during their Babylonian exile, which began around 586 BC following the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar. The psalm vividly expresses the deep national trauma, profound grief, and longing for retribution felt by the captives. Verse 2 immediately follows verse 1, which sets the scene "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion." In this alien landscape, far from their homeland and desecrated Temple, the exiles faced intense emotional and spiritual turmoil. Music, particularly with instruments like the kinnor (harp), was an integral part of Israelite worship, celebration, and spiritual life (1 Sam 16:23, Ps 33:2, 2 Chr 29:26-27). Its cessation, symbolized by hanging the harps, was a powerful, publicly observed demonstration of their brokenness, their resistance to foreign coercion (as later verses imply captors requested songs), and their refusal to make joyful music unto the Lord in such a defiled context.

Psalm 137 2 Word analysis

• Upon (עַל, ‘al): This preposition indicates placement, literally "on" or "over." Here, it denotes the act of suspending their instruments from a physical object.
• the willows (עֲרָבִים, ‘arāvîm): This refers to trees common along waterways, often poplars or willows, fitting the context of "rivers of Babylon" (Ps 137:1). In ancient cultures, willows were sometimes associated with mourning or sorrow due to their drooping branches and preferred damp habitats, enhancing the somber imagery of the psalm. They are a feature of a non-Israelite, foreign landscape.
• in the midst thereof (בְּתוֹכָהּ, bə-ṭôḵāh): This phrase specifies the location of the willows, within the Babylonian landscape, emphasizing their complete engulfment in exile. It also hints at the public, open nature of their display of grief.
• we hanged (תָּלִינוּ, tālînû): Derived from the Hebrew root tālāh, meaning "to hang" or "suspend." This action is deliberate and symbolic. It signifies an intentional cessation rather than an accidental loss. They chose to put their music aside, symbolizing their emotional inability to use it.
• our harps (כִּנֹּרוֹתֵינוּ, kinnōrôṯêynû): The Hebrew word kinnor refers to a lyre or a type of harp, a principal stringed instrument for worship and celebration in Israel (1 Sam 16:23). It was the instrument David used, associated with soothing and praise (Ps 33:2, 1 Chr 25:6). The possessive "our" highlights this instrument's personal and communal significance to their identity and worship.

Words-group analysis

• "Upon the willows in the midst thereof": This phrase paints a vivid picture of the exiles' setting. The specific choice of "willows," often found by rivers and symbolically linked to mourning, in a foreign land (Babylon), reinforces the pervasive atmosphere of sorrow, isolation, and lament. It speaks to a deep, geographical and emotional displacement, where even the natural environment contrasts starkly with their homeland.
• "we hanged our harps": This is the core symbolic act of the verse. By hanging their beloved instruments—symbols of joy, worship, and spiritual communion—they physically demonstrate their profound grief and spiritual desolation. It wasn't that they couldn't physically play, but rather that their hearts were too broken to produce a "song of the LORD" (Ps 137:4) in an unholy land, in servitude. This act represents the suspension of their national joy, identity as worshipping people, and the direct relationship between their instruments and their spiritual state.

Psalm 137 2 Bonus section

• The act of hanging up the instruments implicitly foreshadows the question posed by their captors in the very next verse (Ps 137:3), "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!" The physical act of suspension is thus a pre-emptive answer to the impending demand, setting up the profound theological and emotional refusal of Ps 137:4: "How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?"
• While music in Israel was a profound source of joy and worship, it also had functions such as warding off evil (1 Sam 16:23). By suspending their harps, the exiles may have also signaled a lack of spiritual comfort or a diminished capacity to experience the usual spiritual benefits derived from playing these instruments in such a desolate state.
• The stark imagery of silence and suspended instruments during exile contrasts powerfully with prophetic visions of future restoration, where the instruments will once again be taken down and played in joyous, triumphant procession back to Zion (e.g., Isa 30:29). This provides a significant hope-filled antithesis to the present despair.

Psalm 137 2 Commentary

Psalm 137:2 stands as a profound testament to the crippling power of grief and national trauma on a worshipping community. The hanging of their kinnorim (harps) on the willows beside Babylon's rivers was more than a practical storage; it was a potent act of lamentation, signifying a deep-seated inability to engage in joyous praise. This act highlighted the crucial biblical truth that true worship flows from the heart, and when the heart is consumed by sorrow, compounded by the destruction of God's sanctuary and the people's bondage, the melodies of praise fall silent. It conveyed their conviction that sacred songs, particularly "the LORD's song," could not be trivialized or profaned by being sung as entertainment for their captors in an unholy land. This verse thus captures a moment of spiritual paralysis and a steadfast refusal to yield their sacred worship to an alien context, choosing instead the silence of mourning as an expression of their steadfast devotion and anguish.