Passage Research
Psalm 137 — Sermon Preparation
Below is a research summary for Psalm 137, drawn from openly licensed scholarly databases — original-language morphology, classic sermons from the church fathers through the Puritans, and ancient geography data.
- 9
- verses
- 84 / 54
- Hebrew words / lemmas
- 5
- classic sermon excerpts
- 3
- preachers & commentators
Psalm 137 in the Hebrew
Distinctive vocabulary of this chapter, based on original-language morphology.
| Hebrew | Transliteration | Strong's | Count | Glosses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שִׁיר | shîyr | H7891 | 5 | song, singing |
| זָכַר | zâkar | H2142 | 3 | mark, remember |
| עָרָה | ʻârâh | H6168 | 2 | be, make |
| יְרוּשָׁלִַ͏ם | Yᵉrûwshâlaim | H3389 | 3 | Jerushalaim, Jerushalem |
| אֶשֶׁר | ʼesher | H835 | 2 | happiness, happy! |
| שִׂמְחָה | simchâh | H8057 | 2 | blithesomeness, glee |
| שָׁכַח | shâkach | H7911 | 2 | mislay, be oblivious |
How preachers through history handled this text
5 public-domain excerpts on Psalm 137, from the church fathers to the Puritans.
“There are divers psalms which are thought to have been penned in the latter days of the Jewish church, when prophecy was near expiring and the canon of the Old Testament ready to be closed up, but none of them appears so plainly to be of a late date as this, which was penned when the people of God were captives in Babylon, and there insulted over by these proud oppressors; probably it was towards the latter end of their captivity; for now they saw the destruction of Babylon hastening on apace (ver. 8), which would be their discharge. …”
— Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 3 (Job to Song of Solomon), on Psalm 137:1–30 (Public Domain)
Places in the text
Based on ancient-geography data
- Babylon 1 — Ps 137:1
- Zion — Ps 137:1
- Jerusalem — Ps 137:5
Need the complete sermon prep report on this passage?
Greek exegesis, historical background, current scholarship, sermon outlines, illustrations — a complete PDF report on Psalm 137, delivered in 45 minutes.