Psalm 137:8

8 People of Babylon, you are sentenced to be destroyed. Happy are those who pay you back for what you have done to us.

Psalm 137:8 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 137:8

O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed
By the determinate counsel and decree of God, and according to divine predictions; see ( Jeremiah 50:1-51:64 ) ; so mystical Babylon, antichrist, and the man of sin, who therefore is called the son of perdition, ( 2 Thessalonians 2:3 ) ; because appointed to destruction, and shall certainly go into it, ( Revelation 17:8 ) ; or "O thou destroyer", as the Targum, which paraphrases it thus,

``Gabriel, the prince of Zion, said to the Babylonish nation that spoileth or destroyeth;''

which is true of literal Babylon, called the destroying mountain, ( Jeremiah 51:25 ) ; and of mystical Babylon, the destroyer both of the bodies and souls of men, ( Revelation 11:18 ) ;

happy [shall he be] that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us;
meaning Darius the Mede, as Kimchi; or rather, or however who must be added, Cyrus the Persian, as R. Obadiah; who were ordered by the Lord to retaliate her, and do as she had done to others, ( Jeremiah 50:15 Jeremiah 50:29 ) ; and in so doing pronounced happy, being the Lord's shepherd, raised up in righteousness to perform his pleasure, ( Isaiah 44:28 ) ( 45:13 ) ; and here wished success by the godly Jews. In like manner the Christian princes will reward mystical Babylon, and be the happy instruments of her ruin, ( Revelation 18:6 ) .

Psalm 137:8 In-Context

6 If I don't remember you, may my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth so I can't sing. May it happen if I don't consider Jerusalem to be my greatest joy.

7 Lord, remember what the people of Edom did on the day Jerusalem fell. "Tear it down!" they cried. "Tear it down to the ground!"

8 People of Babylon, you are sentenced to be destroyed. Happy are those who pay you back for what you have done to us.

9 Happy are those who grab your babies and smash them against the rocks.