There on the willows we hung our harps,
Parallel translations
- WEB On the willows in that land, we hung up our harps.
- KJV We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.
- NKJV We hung our harps Upon the willows in the midst of it.
- NASB Upon the willows in the midst of it We hung our harps.
- NLT We put away our harps, hanging them on the branches of poplar trees.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The exiles hung up their harps, too grieved to make music in captivity.
Overview
The silent harps hanging on the willows picture a sorrow too deep for song. Instruments meant for joyful temple worship were laid aside in a land of exile. This image of suspended praise reminds believers that true worship belongs to God's presence, ultimately restored to us in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Ezek 26:13So I will silence the sound of your songs, and the music of your lyres will no longer be heard.
- Isa 24:8The joyful tambourines have ceased; the noise of revelers has stopped; the joyful harp is silent.
- Rev 18:22And the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will never ring out in you again. Nor will any craftsmen of any trade be found in you again, nor the sound of a millstone be heard in you again.
- Ps 33:2Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to Him with ten strings.
- Amos 8:10I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation. I will cause everyone to wear sackcloth and every head to be shaved. I will make it like a time of mourning for an only son, and its outcome like a bitter day.
- Ps 81:2Lift up a song, strike the tambourine, play the sweet-sounding harp and lyre.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 137:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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