Psalms 137:6

Psa 137:6 If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.

Ver. 6. If I do not remember thee] Hi gemitus Sanctorum sunt gemitus Spiritus sancti, these are the very sighs unutterable, that precede joys unspeakable and full of glory. Either our beds are soft or our hearts hard, that can rest when the Church is at unrest, that fed not our brethren’s hard cords through our soft beds.

If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy] Heb. if I cause it not to ascend above the head of my joy. Christ in his ordinances must be our chiefest comfort, overtopping all other; and devouring all discontents whatsoever.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. (Psa 137:6) Let my tongue cleave to my palate if I do not remember thee, if I do not raise Jerusalem above the head of my rejoicing. What he had first wished as to his power of instrumental performance, he now wishes with respect to his vocal organs. If I forget thee, let my hand for ever cease to strike the harp, and my tongue to utter sound! The most natural meaning of the last clause is the one paraphrastically given in the English version, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The decay of God’s religion in their country was so grievous, that no joy could make them glad, except it were restored.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 6. Let my tongue cleave] Let me lose my voice, and all its powers of melody; my tongue, and all its faculty of speech; my ear, and its discernment of sounds; if I do not prefer my country, my people, and the ordinances of my God, beyond all these, and whatever may constitute the chiefest joy I can possess in aught else beside. This is truly patriotic, truly noble and dignified. Such sentiments can only be found in the hearts and mouths of those slaves whom the grace of God has made free.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

6. Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth,

If I remember thee not (R.V.).

Let all power of speech and song desert me. Cp. Job_29:10.

if I prefer not &c.] Lit. if I exalt not Jerusalem above my chiefest joy: i.e. if I do not regard J. as dearer to me than aught else.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

If I do not remember thee,.... In prayer, in discourse, in conversation; this is the same as before, to forget, repeated for the confirmation of it;

let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; as is the case of a person in a fever, or in a violent thirst, which is to be in great distress, Psa 18:6; the sense is, let me have no use of my tongue; let me be dumb and speechless, and never sing a song or speak a word more, should I be so forgetful of the deplorable state of Jerusalem as to sing songs at such a season, and in an enemy's country;

if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy; meaning not God his exceeding joy, Psa 43:4; as his Creator, preserver, and benefactor, and much less as his covenant God and Father; as having loved him with an everlasting love; as the God of all grace unto him, and as his portion and exceeding great reward: nor Christ, the object of joy unspeakable and full of glory; joy in the greatness, glory, and fulness of his person; in the blessings and promises of his grace; in what he has done and suffered; as risen, ascended, exalted, and who will come a second time: nor the joy of the Holy Ghost in a way of believing, and in hope of the glory of God; but all worldly joy, or matter of it; and this not in things sinful, nor merely such as worldlings have in the increase of their substance; but a lawful joy, such as in the health, happiness, and prosperity of a man's family, wife, and children, and his own; which is the greatest outward joy a man can have; and yet the church of God and interest of Christ are preferred by a good man to these; see Sa1 4:19; which appears when all a man has that is matter of joy is sacrificed for the public good and interest of religion; when he can take no comfort in any outward enjoyment because of the sad case of Zion, Mal 2:3; when joy for its good is uppermost, and is first in his thoughts and words; when this is the "head" or "beginning" (g) of his joy, as it may be rendered. So Pindar (h) calls the chief, principal, and greatest part of joy, , the beginning of joy, the top and perfection of it.

(g) "caput laetitiae meae", Musculus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Gejerus. (h) Pythia, Ode 1. v. 4.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

If I do not remember thee - Equivalent to, “If I forget thee.” If I ever fail to remember thee; if I shall ever act as if I had forgotten thee. Singing in a strange land, among those who had perpetrated such wrongs in thee - appearing to be happy, cheerful, joyous, happy, merry there - would be understood to imply that I had ceased to remember thee, and cared nothing for thee.

Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth - Compare Eze 3:26. Let me be unable to speak; let my tongue be as it were attached to the upper part of the mouth, so that it could not be used. If I employ it in an unworthy purpose - in any way whereby it can be inferred that I have ceased to remember my native land, and the city of our solemnities, let my tongue be ever after useless. This language is often employed by Virgil: Vox faucibus haesit.

If I prefer not Jerusalem - literally, “If I do not cause to ascend.” That is, If I do not exalt Jerusalem in my estimation above everything that gives me pleasure; if I do not find my supreme happiness in that.

Above my chief joy - Margin, as in Hebrew, the head of my joy. The chief thing which gives me joy; as the head is the chief, or is supreme over the body. This is expressive of a great truth in regard to religion. Anything else - everything else - is to be sooner sacrificed than that. The happiness which is found in religion is superior to that found in every other source of enjoyment, and is preferred to every other. If either is to be sacrificed - the joy of religion, or the pleasure derived from society, from the frivolous world, from literature, from music, from dancing, from works of art - it will be the latter and not the former. There are other sources of joy which are not in any way inconsistent with religion: the joy of friendship; of domestic life; of honorable pursuits of the esteem of people. So of music, the arts, gardens, literature, science. But when one interferes with the other, or is inconsistent with the other, the joy of the world is to be sacrificed to the joy of religion. When the joy of religion is sacrificed for the joy of the world, it proves that there is no true piety in the soul. Religion, if it exists at all, will always be supreme.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Remember thee with affection and sympathy, so as to damp my joys.

Cleave to the roof of my mouth; be made uncapable of singing, or speaking, or moving, as it is in some diseases. Compare Job 29:10; Psa 22:15. If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy; if I do not value and desire Jerusalem’s prosperity more than all other delights, and consequently if Jerusalem’s misery doth not so deeply affect me as to hinder my delight in all other things.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 6. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth. Thus the singers imprecate eternal silence upon their mouths if they forget Jerusalem to gratify Babylon. The players on instruments and the sweet songsters are of one mind: the enemies of the Lord will get no mirthful tune or song from them. If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. The sacred city must ever be first in their thoughts, the queen of their souls; they had sooner be dumb than dishonour her sacred hymns, and give occasion to the oppressor to ridicule her worship. If such the attachment of a banished Jew to his native land, how much more should we love the church of God of which we are children and citizens. How jealous should we be of her honour, how zealous for her prosperity. Never let us find jests in the words of Scripture, or make amusement out of holy things, lest we be guilty of forgetting the Lord and his cause. It is to be feared that many tongues have lost all power to charm the regations of the saints because they have forgotten the gospel, and God has forgotten them.

Ver. 6. If I do not remember thee. Either our beds are soft, or our hearts hard, that can rest when the church is at unrest, that feel not our brethren's hard cords through our soft beds. John Trapp.

Ver. 6. If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. Literally, "if I advance not Jerusalem above the head of my joy." If I set not Jerusalem as a diadem on the head of my rejoicing, and crown all my happiness with it. Christopher Wordsworth.

Psalms 137:7*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth. Let me be deprived of the power of song. What was wished in the preceding verso with respect to the power of instrumental performance is here wished with respect to the vocal organs. If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. This seems to be the true sense, and is equivalent to "If I prefer not Jerusalem above aught else."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

If - If I do not value Jerusalem's prosperity more than all other delights.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

If I do not bring up Jerusalem The remembrance of the mourning of its destruction I shall bring up to mention at the head of every joyous occasion of mine.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.