Hard passagesDraft · awaiting advisor review
How can Psalm 137 bless those who dash infants against rocks?
In short
Psalm 137 is the cry of exiles whose city was destroyed and whose children were killed. It is honest grief and anger brought to God, not a command. It echoes the judgement already announced on Babylon, leaves vengeance with God, and the New Testament goes further, teaching love for enemies.
The Objection
The Bible calls a person blessed for seizing Babylonian babies and dashing them against rocks. A holy book shouldn’t celebrate the murder of children.
Put as its strongest advocates would put it.
The Christian Case
- Scripture
The psalm is a lament of exiles in Babylon after Jerusalem’s fall, when the Babylonians had done such things to them.
- Scripture
It echoes the judgement God had announced on Babylon through Isaiah: it asks God to repay, rather than taking revenge itself.
- Scripture
Scripture records honest prayers, including anger, without endorsing every feeling in them. Jesus teaches his followers to love and pray for their enemies.
Where the Evidence Is Weaker
The last verse remains shocking, and Christians have long struggled with how to pray such psalms.
Arguments to Avoid
- Explaining the verse away as if it said something gentler.
- Using it to justify hatred of any people.
Read for Yourself
Psalm 137:1–9
1By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. 2We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. 3For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. 4How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a strange land? 5If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. 6If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. 7Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof. 8O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. 9Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.
Further Reading
- Reflections on the Psalms · C. S. Lewis (1958)
Drafted with Opened AI and awaiting review by Opened’s apologetics advisors. Labels show the kind of support each point has: Scripture is what the Bible says; historical evidence and philosophical arguments can be checked by anyone; “Christians differ” marks questions on which faithful Christians disagree.
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