Bible Strands
Psalms 137:5
If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand cease to function.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The exiled psalmist addresses God and the captive community, speaking immediately after lamenting their inability to sing Zion’s songs in a foreign land.
The words — אֶשְׁכָּחֵךְ ('esh.ka.Che/kh) means "I will forget you," paired with יְמִינִי (ye.mi.N/i), literally "my right hand," which denotes physical capacity and strength.
The thread — This vow to remember Jerusalem runs parallel to the command to remember the LORD from afar in Jeremiah 51:50 and directly introduces the parallel curse in Psalm 137:6.
Why it lands — The text states a conditional curse where the speaker vows to lose physical function if Jerusalem is forgotten. This demand requires the reader to treat remembrance as a non-negotiable condition for functional life.
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
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 51:50 You who have escaped the sword, depart and do not linger! Remember the LORD from far away, and let Jerusalem come to mind.”
- Daniel 6:10 Now when Daniel learned that the document had been signed, he went into his house, where the windows of his upper room opened toward Jerusalem, and three times a day he got down on his knees, prayed, and gave thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
- Psalms 84:10 For better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
- Psalms 122:5 For there the thrones of judgment stand, the thrones of the house of David.
- Isaiah 62:1 For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep still, until her righteousness shines like a bright light, her salvation like a blazing torch.
- Zechariah 11:17 Woe to the worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May a sword strike his arm and his right eye! May his arm be completely withered and his right eye utterly blinded!”
- Nehemiah 1:2 Hanani, one of my brothers, arrived with men from Judah. So I questioned them about the remnant of the Jews who had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.
- Nehemiah 2:2 so the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, though you are not ill? This could only be sadness of the heart.” I was overwhelmed with fear
- Psalms 84:1 For the choirmaster. According to Gittith. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. How lovely is Your dwelling place, O LORD of Hosts!
- Psalms 102:13 You will rise up and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show her favor—the appointed time has come.