Bible Strands
Psalms 137:1
By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The speaker identifies a group of exiles located by the rivers of Babylon following the fall of Zion. The text places this group in a foreign land during a period of displacement and mourning.
The words — The verb בָּכִינוּ (ba.khi.nu) literally means "we wept," paired with יָשַׁבְנוּ (ya.shav.nu), meaning "we sat." These terms describe a static posture of mourning rather than active resistance.
The thread — The motif of exiles sitting by rivers appears in Ezekiel 1:1 and Ezekiel 3:15, where prophets address displaced communities near the River Kebar. Lamentations 2:10 similarly depicts Zion’s elders sitting in silence on the ground as a posture of grief.
Why it lands — The text demands acknowledgment of grief as a direct response to the loss of a holy place. It requires readers to sit with the reality of displacement rather than bypassing the weight of remembered loss.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 1:1 In the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was among the exiles by the River Kebar, the heavens opened and I saw visions of God.
- Ezekiel 3:15 I came to the exiles at Tel-abib who dwelt by the River Kebar. And for seven days I sat where they sat and remained there among them, overwhelmed.
- Lamentations 2:10 The elders of the Daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence. They have thrown dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.
- Lamentations 2:18 The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord. O wall of the Daughter of Zion, let your tears run down like a river day and night. Give yourself no relief, and your eyes no rest.
- Lamentations 3:48 Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people.
- Ezekiel 1:3 the word of the LORD came directly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the River Kebar. And there the LORD’s hand was upon him.
- Ezra 8:21 And there by the Ahava Canal I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask Him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions.
- Ezra 8:31 On the twelfth day of the first month we set out from the Ahava Canal to go to Jerusalem, and the hand of our God was upon us to protect us from the hands of the enemies and bandits along the way.
- Nehemiah 1:3 And they told me, “The remnant who survived the exile are there in the province, in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”
- Nehemiah 2:3 and replied to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should I not be sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”