Psalms 136:2
On the willows in the midst thereof we hung up our instruments.
Open Psalms 136:2 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- In salicibus in medio ejus suspendimus organa nostra :
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ἐπὶ ταῖς ἰτέαις ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῆς ἐκρεμάσαμεν τὰ ὄργανα ἡμῶν.
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Psalms 137:2
- עַֽל עֲרָבִ֥ים בְּתוֹכָ֑הּ תָּ֝לִ֗ינוּ כִּנֹּרוֹתֵֽינוּ
Haydock's commentary
Willow. With which the Euphrates was lined, Isaias xv. 7. It passed through the city, which was adored with trees, and contained extensive tracts of land for cultivation. (Calmet)
Babylon may also include all the territory. (Berthier)
Instruments. Hebrew Kinnor means properly the ancient lyre, but here it is put for all instruments of music. (Calmet)
In grief, music was laid aside, Isaias xxiv. 8., Ezechiel xxvi. 13., and Apocalypse xviii. 21. Yet Christians may unite spiritual canticles with holy compunction, Colossians iii. 16. We must not expose the word of truth to the ridicule of infidels. (Berthier)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Psalm CXXXVII
5. “On the willows in the midst thereof we hung up our instruments of music” ( ver. 2 ). The citizens of Jerusalem have their “instruments of music,” God’s Scriptures, God’s commands, God’s promises, meditation on the life to come; but while they are dwelling “in Babylon,” they “hang up their instruments.” Willows are unfruitful trees, and here so placed, that no good whatever can be understood of them: elsewhere perhaps there may. Here understand barren trees, growing by the waters of Babylon. …
St Ambrose Concerning Repentance, Chapter XI. The possibility of repentance is a reason why baptism should not be deferred to old age, a practice which is against the will of God in holy Scripture. But it is of no use to practise penance whilst still serving lusts. These must be first subdued
104. And so no one in a state of sin ought to claim a right to or the use of the sacraments, for it is written: “Thou hast sinned, be still.” As David says in the Psalm lately quoted: “We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof;” and again: “How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?” For if the flesh wars against the mind, and is not subject to the guidance of the Spirit, that is a strange land which is not subdued by the toil of the cultivator, and so cannot produce the fruits of charity, patience, and peace. It is better, then, to be still when you cannot practise the works of repentance, lest in the very acts of repentance there be that which afterward will need further repentance. For if it be once entered upon and not rightly carried out, it obtains not the result of a first repentance and takes away the use of a later one.