Psalms Chapter 137 verse 8 Holy Bible
O daughter of Babylon, that art to be destroyed, Happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee As thou hast served us.
read chapter 137 in ASV
O daughter of Babylon, whose fate is destruction; happy is the man who does to you what you have done to us.
read chapter 137 in BBE
Daughter of Babylon, who art to be laid waste, happy he that rendereth unto thee that which thou hast meted out to us.
read chapter 137 in DARBY
O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.
read chapter 137 in KJV
read chapter 137 in WBT
Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, He will be happy who rewards you, As you have served us.
read chapter 137 in WEB
O daughter of Babylon, O destroyed one, O the happiness of him who repayeth to thee thy deed, That thou hast done to us.
read chapter 137 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 8. - O daughter of Babylon; i.e. O nation of the Babylonians (comp. Isaiah 47:1, 5; Psalm 9:14, etc.). Who art to be destroyed; literally, thou desolated one. The desolation of Babylon began with its capture by Cyrus, but was not completed for many centuries. In the Archaemenian period it was one of the chief cities of the empire. Even under the Parthians it was still a flourishing town. But from the time of Isaiah's prophecy (Isaiah 13:1-22) it was a doomed city, and in the eyes of a devout Jew already "desolate." Happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us; i.e. happy shall he be that completes thy destruction, and the destruction of thy people. He will be the instrument for carrying out God's vengeance.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(8) Daughter of Babylon--i.e., Babylon itself. (See Psalm 9:14, Note.)Who art to be destroyed.--Considerable doubt attaches to the meaning of the Hebrew word here. Our version is that of Theodotion. Aquila and Jerome have "wasted" (comp. Prayer Book version); Symmachus, "robber;" the LXX. and Vulg., "wretched."As pointed, the word is a passive participle, and must be rendered as by Aquila, "wasted" or "destroyed," but with the recollection that a Hebrew would thus speak proleptically of a doom foreseen though not accomplished. Delitzsch quotes an Arab saying: "Pursue the caught one "--i.e., sure to be caught.The "luxury of revenge" is well expressed in this beatitude, pronounced on him who can carry out to all its bitter end the lex talionis. Commentators have in turn tried to disguise and justify the expression of passion. Happily the Bible allows us to see men as they were without taking their rules of feeling and conduct as ours. "The psalm is beautiful as a poem--the Christian must seek his inspiration elsewhere."
