Psalms in Book 5 affirm that God does answer prayer, God’s promises are valid and they include a long love song for God’s laws. The Great Hallel is a name given to Psalm 136, but sometimes extended to include Psalms 135 and 137. These three songs link the songs of ascents (songs to be sung on pilgrimage to the Jerusalem temple) to a section of songs attributed to David.

Psalm 137 is often included as part of the Great Hallel, or Great Praise. However, it is not even remotely a song of praise; it is a lament, and what a lament it is. The last verse is among the most violent in the Bible. Without that last verse, it has frequently been set to music, notably by Boney M as a disco song in 1978, a cover of an earlier reggae song by the Melodians.

Here is a different song based on the psalm:

The books of Psalms are roughly themed like this:

Book 1: Psalms 1 – 41: God is beside us.
Book 2: Psalms 42 – 72: God goes before us
Book 3: Psalms 73 – 89: God is all around us.
Book 4: Psalms 90 – 106: God is above us.
Book 5: Psalms 107 – 150: God is among us.

137 By the waters of Babylon,
    there we sat down and wept,
    when we remembered Zion.
² On the willows there
    we hung up our lyres.
³ For there our captors
    required of us songs,
and our tormentors, mirth, saying,
    “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
⁴ How shall we sing the Lord’s song
    in a foreign land?
⁵ If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
    let my right hand forget its skill!
⁶ Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,
    if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
    above my highest joy!
⁷ Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites
    the day of Jerusalem,
how they said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare,
    down to its foundations!”
⁸ O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed,
    blessed shall he be who repays you
    with what you have done to us!
⁹ Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones
    and dashes them against the rock!

Psalm 137 ESVUK

Songs based on Psalm 137 often focus solely on the first few verses, overlooking the transition from lament to an expression of anger.

To be fair to the psalm, it’s important to note that the Psalmist is not advocating the murder of babies. The events, involving the killing of Jewish and Babylonian babies, are both in the past. Psalm 137 may be set during the exile, but it is a song of the restoration of Jerusalem, reflecting on the past.

The Babylonians were never going to let the exiled Jews return; the prophecies of Jeremiah seemed like a pipe dream. But Babylon also fell. Cyrus II of Persia (the Bible does not contain his regnal number) allowed the Jews to return to their homeland. That is the setting of the song; it starts by talking of Babylon in the past tense. The Jews have returned, or at the very least are returning.

The mentions of Jerusalem or Zion, in verses 1, 3, 5, 6 and 7, show that this is a fitting conclusion to both the Egyptian Hallel, Psalms 113 to 118, and the Songs of Ascents, Psalms 120 to 134. The Songs of Ascents have a strong Jerusalem focus, capturing the sentiment of the time of the return. In contrast, the Egyptian Hallel, along with Psalms 135 and 136, reflect on the Exodus from Egypt to resonate with the new Exodus. Psalm 137 is different; it reflects on remembered history. While the tragic events of the murder of Jewish and Babylonian babies, and the joy of their murderers, may not be explicitly mentioned in the Bible, it seems highly likely that these events are remembered by the returnees. The enduring power of memory, even of distressing events, serves as a guiding light of hope for the future.

For this reason, Psalm 137 beautifully concludes both the Egyptian Hallel and the Songs of Ascents, setting the stage for a return to the Psalms of David in Psalms 138 to 145.

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