---
title: "Commentary on the Psalms, Volume 5"
author: "John Calvin"
translator: "James Anderson"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Commentaries"
section: 148 of 159
url: https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentary-on-the-psalms-volume-5/148/
cite: "John Calvin, tr. James Anderson, Commentary on the Psalms, Volume 5, section 148. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentary-on-the-psalms-volume-5/148/"
---

# Commentary on the Psalms, Volume 5

*John Calvin, tr. James Anderson*

Calvin on the Psalms, volume 5 of 5.

## 148. Psalm 137

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentary-on-the-psalms-volume-5/148/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentary-on-the-psalms-volume-5/148/#p-N

[¶0] 1 By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, Yea we wept when we remembered thee, O Zion!

[¶1] 2 Upon the willows, in the midst thereof, We hanged our harps.

[¶2] 3 Then they required of us, they who carried us away captive, the words of a song, And, when we were in suspense, mirth, [Saying] Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”

[¶3] 4 How shall we sing the song of Jehovah, In a strange land?

[¶4] 5 If I shall forget thee, O Jerusalem! Forget let my right hand [its cunning.]

[¶5] 6 Cleave let my tongue to my palate, If I do not remember thee, If I do not raise Jerusalem above my highest joy.

[¶6] 7 Remember, O Jehovah! the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem: ‘Who said, “Lay it bare — “Lay it bare, even to the foundations thereof.”

[¶7] 8 O daughter of Babylon laid waste! Happy he who shall repay thee The retribution with which thou hast retributed us!

[¶8] 9 Happy he who shall take And dash thy little ones against the stones.

### Psalm 138

[¶10] Of David

[¶11] 1 I will celebrate thee with my whole heart; Before the gods! will sing psalms to thee.

[¶12] 2 I will worship thee towards the temple of thy holiness, And sing to thy name for thy mercy and for thy truth; For thou hast magnified above all things thy name by thy word.

[¶13] 3 In the day when, I cried to thee, then thou heardest me, Thou didst abundantly minister to me strength in my soul.

[¶14] 4 Celebrate thee, O Jehovah! let all the kings of the earth; For they have heard the words of thy mouth.

[¶15] 5 And let them sing in the ways of Jehovah, For great is the glory of Jehovah.

[¶16] 6 For high is Jehovah; yet the lowly he will regard; And being high will know afar off:

[¶17] 7 If I shall walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me; Against the wrath of my enemies thou wilt put forth thy hand, And save me shall thy right hand.

[¶18] 8 Jehovah will perform in me his work, O Jehovah! thy mercy is from everlasting; The works of thy hands thou wilt not forsake.