Psalms 137:4
2 There on the willows we hung our harps,
3 for there our captors requested a song; our tormentors demanded songs of joy: “Sing us a song of Zion.”
How can we sing a song of the LORD in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand cease to function.
6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem as my greatest joy!
Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- How can we sing a song of the LORD in a foreign land?
- KJV
- How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a strange land?
- WEB
- How can we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land?
- ASV
- How shall we sing Jehovah`s song In a foreign land?
- DARBY
- How should we sing a song of Jehovah's upon a foreign soil?
- BLB
- How can we sing a song of YHWH in a foreign land?
- ÅB
- Hvordan skulle vi synge Herrens sang på fremmed jord?
- OTB
- Hvordan kan vi synge Herrens sang
I et fremmed land? - B1930
- Hvorledes skulde vi synge Herrens sang på fremmed jord?
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Amos 8:3
“In that day,” declares the Lord GOD, “the songs of the temple will turn to wailing. Many will be the corpses, strewn in silence everywhere!”
Read in contextIsaiah 22:12
On that day the Lord GOD of Hosts called for weeping and wailing, for shaven heads and the wearing of sackcloth.
Read in contextHosea 9:4
They will not pour out wine offerings to the LORD, and their sacrifices will not please Him, but will be to them like the bread of mourners; all who eat will be defiled. For their bread will be for themselves; it will not enter the house of the LORD.
Read in contextLamentations 5:14–15
The elders have left the city gate; the young men have stopped their music.
Read in contextEcclesiastes 3:4
a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
Read in contextIsaiah 49:21
Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has begotten these for me? I was bereaved and barren; I was exiled and rejected. So who has reared them? Look, I was left all alone, so where did they come from?’”
Read in context