Psalm 137:7

7 O LORD, remember what the Edomites did on the day the armies of Babylon captured Jerusalem. “Destroy it!” they yelled. “Level it to the ground!”

Psalm 137:7 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 137:7

Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of
Jerusalem
Of her visitation, calamity, and destruction, how they behaved then, and them for it; who, though the children of Esau and brethren of the Jews, as well as their neighbours, yet hated them; the old grudge of their father, because of the birthright and blessing, as well as the old enmity of the serpent, continuing in them; and who rejoiced at their ruin, helped forward their affliction, and were assistants to the Babylonians in the plunder and destruction of them, ( Obadiah 1:11-14 ) . The Targum is,

``Michael, the prince of Jerusalem, said, remember, O Lord, the people of Edom who destroyed Jerusalem.''

Many Jewish writers, as Aben Ezra observes, interpret this of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans:

who said, rase [it], rase [it even] to the foundation thereof:
or "make [it] naked" or "bare ^F9 to the foundation"; pull down its walls, lay them level with the ground; root up the very foundation of them, and let nothing be left or seen but the bare naked ground; so spiteful and malicious were they.

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 (wre) "nudate", Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Schmidt.

Psalm 137:7 In-Context

5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget how to play the harp.

6 May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I fail to remember you, if I don’t make Jerusalem my greatest joy.

7 O LORD, remember what the Edomites did on the day the armies of Babylon captured Jerusalem. “Destroy it!” they yelled. “Level it to the ground!”

8 O Babylon, you will be destroyed. Happy is the one who pays you back for what you have done to us.

9 Happy is the one who takes your babies and smashes them against the rocks!