Psalms 137:9

9 Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.

Psalms 137:9 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
9 Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.
English Standard Version (ESV)
9 Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!
New Living Translation (NLT)
9 Happy is the one who takes your babies and smashes them against the rocks!
The Message Bible (MSG)
9 Yes, a reward to the one who grabs your babies and smashes their heads on the rocks!
American Standard Version (ASV)
9 Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones Against the rock.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
9 Blessed is the one who grabs your little children and smashes them against a rock.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
9 Happy is he who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rocks.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
9 Happy are those who grab your babies and smash them against the rocks.

Psalms 137:9 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 137:9

Happy [shall he be] that taketh and dasheth thy little ones
against the stones.
] That takes the infants from their mothers' breasts, or out of their arms, and dashes out their brains against a "rock", as the word F11 signifies; which, though it may seem a piece of cruelty, was but a just retaliation; the Babylonians having done the same to the Jewish children, and is foretold elsewhere should be done to theirs, ( Isaiah 13:16 ) . Nor is this desired from a spirit of revenge, but for the glory of divine justice, and that such a generation of cruel creatures might be rooted out of the earth; see ( Revelation 2:2 Revelation 2:3 ) . Some allegorically understand this of crushing and mortifying the first motions of sin in the heart; but such a sense seems to have no place here.


FOOTNOTES:

F11 (elo la) "ad petram", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus "ad repem", Cocceius.

Psalms 137:9 In-Context

7 Remember, LORD, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. “Tear it down,” they cried, “tear it down to its foundations!”
8 Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the one who repays you according to what you have done to us.
9 Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.

Cross References 1

  • 1. S 2 Kings 8:12; S Isaiah 13:16; Luke 19:44
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