Derek Bass opens by explaining why he has long preached Psalm 137: it is one of Scripture’s hardest texts, especially the violent final verse. Many reject the God of the Bible because of passages like this, but Bass insists that psalmic judgment must be understood in context, within the whole canon and ultimately in light of Christ.
Psalm 137 is a communal lament from Israel’s exile. The people sit by Babylon’s rivers, weeping for Jerusalem, mocked by captors who demand Zion songs as a taunt. Their pain is real—Jerusalem and the temple lie in ruins—but the psalm calls them not to despair. Instead of silencing their harps, they must remember and sing of Jerusalem, not in nostalgia but in faith: Jerusalem is the city where God dwells, and its ultimate form is the new Jerusalem of Isaiah and Revelation. The psalmist commands his own soul to exalt God’s promised city above all joys.
Verses 7–9, including the imprecation about Babylon’s infants, are not personal vengeance but a plea for God to keep His promises to judge wicked nations. Bass shows how the prophets foretold Babylon’s doom and how judgment is always the pathway to salvation. Ultimately, all divine wrath converges on the cup Jesus drank in Gethsemane. Christ takes judgment on Himself so His people drink the “cup of blessing.”
Thus Christians read Psalm 137 longing for Christ’s return—knowing His coming brings both salvation and judgment. This longing should fuel bold, compassionate evangelism as we live in exile, setting the new Jerusalem above our highest joy.