Psalm 137:2
New International Version
There on the poplars we hung our harps,

New Living Translation
We put away our harps, hanging them on the branches of poplar trees.

English Standard Version
On the willows there we hung up our lyres.

Berean Standard Bible
There on the willows we hung our harps,

King James Bible
We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.

New King James Version
We hung our harps Upon the willows in the midst of it.

New American Standard Bible
Upon the willows in the midst of it We hung our harps.

NASB 1995
Upon the willows in the midst of it We hung our harps.

NASB 1977
Upon the willows in the midst of it We hung our harps.

Legacy Standard Bible
Upon the willows in the midst of it We hung our lyres.

Amplified Bible
On the willow trees in the midst of Babylon We hung our harps.

Christian Standard Bible
There we hung up our lyres on the poplar trees,

Holman Christian Standard Bible
There we hung up our lyres on the poplar trees,

American Standard Version
Upon the willows in the midst thereof We hanged up our harps.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Upon the willows within it we hung our harps.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
We hung our harps on the willows in the midst of it.

Contemporary English Version
We hung our small harps on the willow trees.

Douay-Rheims Bible
On the willows in the midst thereof we hung up our instruments.

English Revised Version
Upon the willows in the midst thereof we hanged up our harps.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
We hung our lyres on willow trees.

Good News Translation
On the willows near by we hung up our harps.

International Standard Version
On the willows there we hung our harps,

JPS Tanakh 1917
Upon the willows in the midst thereof We hanged up our harps.

Literal Standard Version
We hung our harps on willows in its midst.

Majority Standard Bible
There on the willows we hung our harps,

New American Bible
On the poplars in its midst we hung up our harps.

NET Bible
On the poplars in her midst we hang our harps,

New Revised Standard Version
On the willows there we hung up our harps.

New Heart English Bible
On the willows in its midst, we hung up our harps.

Webster's Bible Translation
We hung our harps upon the willows in the midst of it.

World English Bible
On the willows in that land, we hung up our harps.

Young's Literal Translation
On willows in its midst we hung our harps.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
By the Rivers of Babylon
1By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. 2There on the willows we hung our harps, 3for there our captors requested a song; our tormentors demanded songs of joy: “Sing us a song of Zion.”…

Cross References
Leviticus 23:40
On the first day you are to gather the fruit of majestic trees, the branches of palm trees, and the boughs of leafy trees and of willows of the brook. And you are to rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days.

Job 30:31
My harp is tuned to mourning and my flute to the sound of weeping.

Isaiah 24:8
The joyful tambourines have ceased; the noise of revelers has stopped; the joyful harp is silent.

Isaiah 44:4
They will sprout among the grass like willows by flowing streams.

Ezekiel 26:13
So I will silence the sound of your songs, and the music of your lyres will no longer be heard.


Treasury of Scripture

We hanged our harps on the willows in the middle thereof.

we hanged.

Psalm 33:2
Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.

Psalm 81:2
Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery.

Isaiah 24:8
The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth.

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Psalm 137
1. The constancy of the Jews in captivity
7. The prophet curses Edom and Babel














(2) Willows.--It is perhaps not necessary to attempt to identify the trees mentioned in this verse, since the touching picture may only be a poetical way of expressing the silence during the exile of all the religious and festal songs. The 'ereb' is certainly not the willow, a tree not found in Babylonia, but the poplar (Populus Euphraticus).

Verse 2. - We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. The superfluous "harps" were "hung" up upon the trees that grew by the watercourses. These are called "willows," or, according to some, "poplars," but were probably of a different species from any of the trees that grew in Palestine. The chief Babylonian tree was the palm, which grew in the greatest luxuriance along the courses of all the streams (Herod., 1:193; Atom Man., 24:3; Zosim., 3. pp. 173-179). Tamarisks, poplars, and acacias were also common, but true "willows" hardly appear to have ever been a product of the country. The 'arabah of our author was probably either a poplar or a tamarisk.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
There on
עַֽל־ (‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

the poplars
עֲרָבִ֥ים (‘ă·rā·ḇîm)
Noun - feminine plural
Strong's 6155: (a kind of tree) perhaps poplar, also a wadi in Moab

we hung
תָּ֝לִ֗ינוּ (tā·lî·nū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - first person common plural
Strong's 8518: To suspend

our harps,
כִּנֹּרוֹתֵֽינוּ׃ (kin·nō·rō·w·ṯê·nū)
Noun - masculine plural construct | first person common plural
Strong's 3658: A harp


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OT Poetry: Psalm 137:2 On the willows in its midst we (Psalm Ps Psa.)
Psalm 137:1
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