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Psalm 137:4

How can we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land?

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.
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← Psalm 137:3Psalm 137:5 →
Notice

The foreign land is a place of captivity, where a demand for joyful songs meets the pain of people far from Jerusalem.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What changes in your reading when you hear the captors’ demand behind this question?

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When has a song of worship felt hard to sing because of what you had lost?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

6 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Isaiah 22:12In that day, the Lord, GOD of Armies, called to weeping, to mourning, to baldness, and to dressing in sackcloth;Both passages make room for mourning: the captives question singing, and Isaiah records God’s call to weeping.
Amos 8:3The songs of the temple will be wailing in that day,” says the Lord GOD. “The dead bodies will be many. In every place they will throw them out with silence.Songs meet devastation in both passages: captives question singing the LORD’s song, and Amos describes temple songs becoming wailing.
Hosea 9:4They won’t pour out wine offerings to the LORD, neither will they be pleasing to him. Their sacrifices will be to them like the bread of mourners; all who eat …Both passages concern worship under distress, though the psalm concerns singing and Hosea concerns offerings that will not please the LORD.
Lamentations 5:14–15The elders have ceased from the gate, and the young men from their music.Music falls silent in both settings: the captives hang up their harps, and Lamentations describes young men ceasing their music.
Isaiah 49:21Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has conceived these for me, since I have been bereaved of my children and am alone, an exile, and wandering back and …Both passages voice questions shaped by exile, with the psalm asking about singing and Isaiah’s speaker recalling bereavement and isolation.
Ecclesiastes 3:4a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;Ecclesiastes names a time to mourn, while the captives’ question shows the strain of being asked for joy amid loss.
Where this verse fits

Grief. injustice and anger. praise and worship.

What the Bible says about grief →What the Bible says about anger →What the Bible says about worship →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Tell God what makes joyful singing hard

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Encouragement

The song still belongs to YHWH, even in exile; the captives’ question records how hard singing becomes when tormentors demand joy.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 137:4. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 137 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).