Start with the text.
World English Bible Updated · public domain. The passages below are source text, not AI quotations.
Psalm 137:1-9 Read passage
1By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yes, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
2On the willows in that land, we hung up our harps.
3For there, those who led us captive asked us for songs. Those who tormented us demanded songs of joy: “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
4How can we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land?
5If I forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill.
6Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I don’t remember you, if I don’t prefer Jerusalem above my chief joy.
7Remember, LORD, against the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem, who said, “Raze it! Raze it even to its foundation!”
8Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, he will be happy who repays you, as you have done to us.
9Happy shall he be, who takes and dashes your little ones against the rock.
Psalm 109:1-5 Read passage
1God of my praise, don’t remain silent,
2for they have opened the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of deceit against me. They have spoken to me with a lying tongue.
3They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause.
4In return for my love, they are my adversaries; but I am in prayer.
5They have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
Matthew 5:43-48 Read passage
43“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
44But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you,
45that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.
46For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same?
47If you only greet your friends, what more do you do than others? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same?
48Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Read this in context.
Psalm 137 is sung by survivors of Jerusalem’s destruction who watched their city burned and their children killed by Babylon. Instead of picking up a sword, the psalmist brings even the most bitter grief into prayer before God.
What we can observe.
Psalm 137:1-4 voices the trauma of captives mocked by their captors. Psalm 109:4 says, “In return for my love, they are my adversaries; but I am in prayer.”
A reading to consider.
These psalms are honest prayers in the mouths of victims, not permissions for personal violence. Read alongside Matthew 5:44 and Romans 12:19, they teach believers to leave ultimate justice in God’s hands.
Where Christians differ.
This guide focuses on the shared textual observations above rather than a survey of denominational positions. It does not claim that every Christian interprets every detail alike.
Read it for yourself.
What happens when we bring our worst anger honestly to God in prayer instead of acting on it toward others?
A question of your own?
Take what you have read into a guided study. Begin with the passages, explore their context, and keep room for your own reflection.