If I forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill.
Parallel Translations
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If I forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill.
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If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.
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If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Psalms 137:5 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 51:50 You who have escaped the sword, go! Don’t stand still! Remember Yahweh from afar, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.”
- Psalms 122:5-9 For there are set thrones for judgment, the thrones of David’s house. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Those who love you will prosper. Peace be within your walls, and prosperity within your palaces. For my brothers’ and companions’ sakes, I will now say, “Peace be within you.” For the sake of the house of Yahweh our God, I will seek your good.
- Isaiah 62:1 For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning lamp.
- Daniel 6:10-11 When Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house (now his windows were open in his room toward Jerusalem) and he kneeled on his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did before. Then these men assembled together, and found Daniel making petition and supplication before his God.
- Zechariah 11:17 Woe to the worthless shepherd who leaves the flock! The sword will be on his arm, and on his right eye. His arm will be completely withered, and his right eye will be totally blinded!”
- Nehemiah 1:2-4 Hanani, one of my brothers, came, he and certain men out of Judah; and I asked them about the Jews who had escaped, who were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. They said to me, “The remnant who are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.” When I heard these words, I sat down and wept, and mourned several days; and I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven,
- Nehemiah 2:2-3 The king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart.” Then I was very much afraid. I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why shouldn’t my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates have been consumed with fire?”
- Psalms 84:1-2 How lovely are your dwellings, Yahweh of Armies! My soul longs, and even faints for the courts of Yahweh. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
- Psalms 84:10 For a day in your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
- Psalms 102:13-14 You will arise and have mercy on Zion; for it is time to have pity on her. Yes, the set time has come. For your servants take pleasure in her stones, and have pity on her dust.
- Isaiah 62:6-7 I have set watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem. They will never be silent day nor night. You who call on Yahweh, take no rest, and give him no rest, until he establishes, and until he makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 5. If I shall forget thee, O Jerusalem! This…
5. If I shall forget thee, O Jerusalem! This confirms what was said in the former verse, and leaves us in no difficulty to understand what the Psalmist meant by it. For here God’s people declare, and with the solemnity of an oath, that the remembrance of the holy city would be ever engra-yen upon their hearts, and never, under any circumstances, effaced. Having spoken of song, and of the instruments of music, the Psalmist’s appeal is made in terms which corre-spond — that his hand would forager its cunning, and his tongue cleave to his palate, or the roof of his mouth The meaning’ is, that the Lord’s people, while they mourn under personal trials, should be still more deeply affected by public calamities which befall the Church, it being’ reasonable that the zeal of God’s house should have the highest place in our hearts, and rise above all mere private considerations. The second part of the sixth verse some interpret — If this be not my chief joy to see Jerusalem once more in a flourishing condition. Others — Joy will never enter my heart more, till I be gladdened by the Church’s restoration. Both meanings are in my opinion comprehended in the words of the Psalmist. The one cannot be separated from the other; for if we set Jerusalem above our chiefest joy, the height of this joy must arise from the consideration of its prosperity, and, if this be the case, the grief we feel under its calamities will be such as effectually to shut out all worldly joys.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Albeit the faithful are touched with their particular griefs,…
Albeit the faithful are touched with their particular griefs, yet the common sorrow of the Church is most grievous unto them, and is such as they cannot but remember and lament.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 137:5 If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let…
Psa 137:5 If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget [her cunning].
Ver. 5. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem] As I might seem to do, should I herein gratify these idolaters; or otherwise obey them, rather than God. The Jews at this day, when they build a house, they are, say the Rabbis, to leave one part of it unfinished and lying rude, in remembrance that Jerusalem and the temple are at present desolate. At least, they use to leave about a yard square of the house unplastered, on which they write, in great letters, this of the psalmist, "If I forget Jerusalem," &c., or else these words, Zecher leehorban, that is, The memory of the desolation (Leo Modena of the Rites of the Jews).
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Let my right hand forget] Fiat abalienata atque emortua, Let it be paralytical and useless, unfit to touch the harp.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain If I forget thee; if I do not retain…
If I forget thee; if I do not retain a deep and sorrowful sense of thy ruin and misery, or if I indulge myself in mirth and jollity, as if I had forgotten thee.
Right hand; the chief instrument of playing upon musical instruments and of other actions.
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Forget her cunning, i.e. lose its skill of playing. In the Hebrew it is only forget, without expressing what, to intimate the extent and generality of this wish; Let it forget or be disenabled not only for playing, but for every action in which it was formerly used.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,.... This was said…
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,.... This was said by one or everyone of the Levites; or singers, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi; or by the congregation of Israel, as Jarchi; by one of them, in the name of the rest; or by the composer of the psalm. The Targum is,
"the voice of the Spirit of God answered and said, "if I forget", &c.''
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that is, to weep over the calamities of Jerusalem; which might be thought, if the songs of Zion were sung; or to pray for the restoration of her prosperity and peace; as the church of Christ may be said to be forgotten, when men forget to mourn over its breaches, and show no concern for the reparation of them; or at the death of principal persons, which they lay not to heart; or at the great decay of religion in those that survive; or at the sins of professors, and their disregard to the word and ordinances: also when they forget to pray for her happiness in general; for the good of her members in particular; and especially for her ministers, that they may have assistance and success; and for a blessing on the word and ordinances, and for the conversion of sinners; and when they forget the worship of the Lord in it, and forsake the assembling of themselves together;
let my right hand forget her cunning; her skill in music, particularly in playing on the harp; see Sa1 16:16; the harp was held in the left hand, and struck with the right; and that more softly or hardly, as the note required, in which was the skill or cunning of using it. Or let this befall me, should I so far forget Jerusalem as to strike the harp to one of the songs of Zion in a strange land: or let it forget any of its works; let it be disabled from working at all; let it be dry and withered, which, Aben Ezra says, is the sense of the word according to some; and Schultens (d), from the use of it in Arabic, renders it, let it be "disjointed", or the nerve loosened; see Job 31:22. Or the sense is, let everything that is as dear as my right hand he taken from me: or, as it may be rendered, "my right hand is forgotten" (e); that is, should I forget Jerusalem, it would; for that is as my right hand; so Arama. Some choose to translate the words thus, "may thou (O God) forget my right hand" (f); that is, to be at my right hand; to be a present help to me in time of need; to hold me by it, and to be the shade of it.
(d) Animadv. Philol. p. 181. (e) "oblita est nostra dextra", Castalio. (f) "Oblivisceris (O Domine) dexterae meae", Gejerus; so some in Michaelis.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 5. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem] Such…
Verse 5. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem] Such conduct would be, in effect, a renunciation of our land a tacit acknowledgment that we were reconciled to our bondage; a concession that we were pleased with our captivity, and could profane holy ordinances by using them as means of sport or pastime to the heathen. No: Jerusalem! we remember thee and thy Divine ordinances: and especially thy King and our God, whose indignation we must bear, because we have sinned against him.
Let my right hand forget] Let me forget the use of my right hand. Let me forget that which is dearest and most profitable to me; and let me lose my skill in the management of my harp, if I ever prostitute it to please the ungodly multitude or the enemies of my Creator!
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 137:5-6. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem —…
Psa 137:5-6. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem — If I do not retain a deep and sorrowful sense of thy desolations, though never so far removed from thee; or if I indulge myself in mirth and jollity, as if I had forgotten thee; let my right hand — The hand chiefly used in playing on musical instruments, and in all other actions; forget her cunning — That is, lose its skill of playing. In the Hebrew it is only, Let my right hand forget, without expressing what, to intimate the extent and generality of this wish; let it forget, or be disabled for every action, in which it was formerly used. If I do not remember thee — With affection and sympathy, so as to damp my joys; let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth — Become incapable of singing, speaking, or moving; if I prefer not Jerusalem, &c. — If I do not value and desire Jerusalem’s prosperity more than all other delights, and consequently, if Jerusalem’s misery do not so deeply affect me as to hinder my delighting in any other thing. Hebrew, אם לא אלעה, literally, If I advance not Jerusalem in the beginning, or at the head, (as על ראשׁproperly signifies,) of my joy; that is, “if I again sing any such festive song till that joyful day shall come, when I shall see Jerusalem and her holy solemnities restored.” “The whole nation,” says Dr. Horne, “may be supposed, in these words, to declare as one man, that neither the afflictions nor the allurements of Babylon should efface from their minds the remembrance of Jerusalem, or prevent their looking forward to her future glorious restoration. If any temptation should induce them to employ their tongues and their hands in the service of Babel rather than that of Sion, they wish to lose the use of the former, and the skill of the latter.” Thus, “the thoughts and affections of true penitents, both in prosperity and adversity, are fixed upon their heavenly country and city: they had rather be deprived of their powers and faculties than of the will to use them aright; and the hope of glory hereafter to be revealed in the church is the flower and crown of their joy.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain If I forget thee, O Jerusalem - The meaning…
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem - The meaning here is, that to sing in such circumstances would seem to imply that they had forgotten Jerusalem; that they were unmindful of its sorrows, and cared not that it was desolate. The remembrance of its calamities pressed hard upon them, and they could not do anything which would seem to imply that they had become unmindful of the sufferings that had come upon their nation. One will not make merry when a wife or child lies dying - or on the day of the funeral - or over the grave of a mother. A joyous and brilliant party, accompanied with music, feasting, dancing, when a friend has been just laid in the grave, when the calamities of war are abroad, when the pestilence is raging in a city, we feel to be untimely, unseemly, and incongruous. So these captives said it would be if they should make merry while their temple was in ruins; while their city was desolate; while their people were captives in a foreign land.
Let my right hand forget her cunning - Let my right hand forget its skill in music - all its skill. If I should now play on the harp - as indicative of joy - let the hand which would be employed in sweeping over its strings become paralyzed and powerless. Let the punishment come where it would seem to be deserved - on the hand which could play at such a time. So Cranmer held the hand which had been employed in signing a recantation of his faith in the fire, until it was burned off, and dropped in the flames.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 5, 6. If I forget thee—The form of language…
5, 6. If I forget thee—The form of language is that of an oath, and the forfeiture is terrible, (see note on Psa_132:3,) while, as an outburst of patriotism and love for the national religion, it is sublime. The right hand and tongue are mentioned, not only as being chiefly employed in skilful music and song, but as among the distinguishing endowments of our being.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 5. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem] To have…
5. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem] To have consented would have seemed an act of unfaithfulness to Zion. Some of the exiles did forget the “holy mountain” (Isa_65:11). For the imprecation as a solemn asseveration cp. Job_31:21-22.
forget her cunning] So the aposiopesis is admirably completed in the Great Bible of 1540. Less forcibly the LXX and Jer. read the verb as a passive, ‘Let my right hand be forgotten,’ which is the rendering of Coverdale (1535), retained in the first edition of the Great Bible.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (5) Her cunning—i.e., the skill of playing on the…
(5) Her cunning—i.e., the skill of playing on the harp. If at such a moment the poet can so far forget the miserable bondage of Jerusalem as to strike the strings in joy, may his hand for ever lose the skill to touch them.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right…
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning; literally, let my right hand forget; but the words supplied in the Authorized Version are necessary to bring out the sense, which is, "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, so far as to desecrate thy sacred songs by making them an entertainment for the heathen, may I never have power to strike a note again!
Vers. 5, 6. Sanctified patriotism.
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"Let my right hand forget," i.e. be numbed into deadness. The psalm expresses the feelings of an exile who has but just returned from the land of his captivity. He is oppressed with the desolation around him. His heart is heavy and bitter with the memory of wrong and insult from which he has but lately escaped. "He takes his harp, which he could not sound at the bidding of his conqueror by the waters of Babylon; and now with faltering hand he sweeps the strings, first in low, plaintive, melancholy cadence pouring out his griefs, and then with a loud crash of wild and stormy music, answering to the wild and stormy numbers of his verse, he raises the paean of vengeance over his foes" (Perowne). "Jerusalem is still the center round which the exiled sons of Judah build, in imagination, the mansions of their future greatness, in whatever part of the world he may live, the heart"s desire of a Jew is to be buried in Jerusalem.
I THE LOVE OF COUNTRY MAY TAKE THE PLACE OF LOVE OF GOD. Not all patriots are personal servants of God. Indeed, it is curious to observe that, as a matter of fact, active patriots have seldom been actively religious men; and interest in God has tended to shunt men aside from interest in country, some pious sections even going so far as to withdraw altogether from political and even social life. It is, however, the other side of the matter to which attention is now drawn. Supreme interest in the material things of patriotism tends to loosen the hold on a man of spiritual things. The patriotism of the returned exiles seems very beautiful; but it was a most serious peril to them, and proved so engrossing that patriotism, not Divine service, became the great national characteristic during the age of the Maccabees. Men fought for Jerusalem, not for God.
II THE LOVE OF COUNTRY MAY EXPRESS THE LOVE OF GOD. Of this it is possible to take David as an example. There could not be a worthier instance of patriotism, but back of the patriotism, and its inspiration, was the love of God. His country was God"s country; and service to his country was service to God. And this relation he kept up right through his life, and so he stands, in the historic page, the supreme example of "sanctified patriotism. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 5. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let…
Ver. 5. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. To sing Zion's songs for the pleasure of Zion's foes, would be to forget the Holy City Each Jew declares for himself that he will not do this; for the pronoun alters from "we" to "I." Individually the captives pledge themselves to fidelity to Jerusalem, and each one asserts that he had sooner forget the art which drew music from his harp strings than use it for Babel's delectation. Better far that the right hand should forget its usual handicraft, and lose all its dexterity, than that it should fetch music for rebels out of the Lord's instruments, or accompany with sweet skill a holy Psalm desecrated into a common song for fools to laugh at. Not one of them will thus dishonour Jehovah to glorify Belus and gratify his vetaries. Solemnly they imprecate vengeance upon themselves should they so false, so faithless prove.
Ver. 5. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem. Calvary, Mount of Olives, Siloam, how fragrant are ye with the Name that is above every name! "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem!" Can I forget where he walked so often, where he spake such gracious words, where he died? Can I forget that his feet shall stand on that "Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem, on the east?" Can I forget that there stood the Upper Room, and there fell the showers of Pentecost? Andrew A. Bonar.
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Ver. 5. Let my right hand forget her cunning. There is a striking and appropriate point in this, which has been overlooked. It is, that, as it is customary for people in the East to swear by their professions, so one who has no professionwho is poor and destitute, and has nothing of recognized value in the worldswears by his right hand, which is his sole stake in society, and by the "cunning" of which he earns his daily bread. Hence the common Arabic proverb (given by Burckhardt) reflecting on the change of demeanour produced by improved circumstances: "He was wont to swear `by the cutting off of his right hand!' He now swears `by the giving of money to the poor.'"The words, "her cunning", are supplied by the translators, in whose time cunning (from the Saxon "cannan", Dutch konnen, "to know") meant "skill"; and a cunning man was what we should now call a skilful man. In the present case the skill indicated is doubtless that of playing on the harp, in which particular sense it occurs so late as Prior:
"When Pedro does the lute command,
She guides the cunning artist's hand."
Modern translators substitute "skill"; but perhaps a term still more general would be bettersuch as, "May my right hand lose its power." John Kitto, in "The Pictorial Bible."
Ver. 5. Let my right hand forget. Something must be supplied from the context...the playing on the stringed instrument, Ps 137:2, whether the right hand should be applied to the purpose or not, was the point in question. Then, the punishment also perfectly accords with the misdeed, as in Job 31:22: If I, misapplying my right hand to the playing of joyful strains on my instrument, forget thee, Jerusalem, let my right hand, as a punishment, forget the noble art; and then also Ps 137:6 fits admirably to what goes before: May my misemployed hand lose its capacity to play, and my tongue, misemployed in singing cheerful songs, its capacity to sing. E. W. Hengstenberg.
Ver. 5. The person who remembers; the thing remembered; the solemn imprecation.
Ver. 5. No harp but for Jesus.
1. The harp consecrated. At conversion.
"One sword, at least, thy rights shall guard,
One faithful harp shall praise thee."
2. The harp silent:
"Thy songs were made for the brave and free,
They shall never sound in slavery."
3. The harp restrung above:
"And I heard the voice of harpers Harping with their
harps." W. B. H.
Ver. 5-6.
1. To rejoice with the world is to forget the church.
2. To love the church we must prefer her above everything.
3. To serve the church we must be prepared to suffer anything.
Psalms 137:6*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right…
Psa_137:5-6
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.
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Recollection and preference of the Church of Christ
I. The object of recollection and preference by the Christian. The Church of Jesus Christ--the universal Church, consisting of all, throughout the world, who believe and obey the Gospel.
1. The Church of Jesus Christ is the dwelling-place of God.
2. It is the light of the world.
3. It is the depository of ordinances and truths requisite for the weal of the human race.
4. It is the sanctuary of salvation.
5. It is a type of the Church in heaven.
II. The emphasis with which the Christian expresses his recollection of, and preference for, the Church of Jesus Christ.
1. Because of its wonderful revelations.
2. Because of its sacred exercises.
3. Because of its ennobling associations.
4. Because of its momentous interests--truth, righteousness, joy. (P. J. Wright.)
Religious public-spiritedness
I. What it is. It is love to the Church of Christ, regulated by knowledge, and prompting to zealous and steady activity in advancing the Churchs interests. It is in the kingdom of God on earth what patriotism is in the body politic. It directs and rules him; he lives for the Church; he consecrates to her welfare all that he is, and all that he has.
II. How it is to be exemplified.
1. By self-denial for the sake of the Church. This includes a disposition to forego everything, however innocent and lawful in itself, which we cannot enjoy without doing less than we ought to do for the interests of religion.
2. By identifying ourselves with the interests of the Church.
3. By promoting the purity of the Church. Not only is the Church of Christ a holy community, but holiness is the very thing which distinguishes it from the world.
4. By strenuously maintaining the integrity of the Church. It is not a mutilated, vitiated Christianity that is to convert the nations. It is when the Church goes forth in all the might of her Divine simplicity and integrity that she will take the world captive to Christ.
5. By labouring for the extension of the Church.
III. What are the considerations which should stimulate, the operation of a religious public spirit?
1. Consider what is due to God. Is obedience due to Him? Well, cherish and exemplify public-spiritedness in religion, for God requires it of every one of you. Is gratitude due to God? due to Him more especially as the God of the Church? Cherish and exemplify public-spiritedness in religion: there is no sacrifice of praise more pleasing to the Lord.
2. Consider what is due to Jesus Christ.
3. Consider what is due to the Church.
4. Consider what is due to a perishing world. Will you not pity it, pray for it, do all you can to reclaim it? (D. Young, D. D.)
Patriotism
I. Some of its characteristic features.
1. A spirit of enterprise in behalf of religion. The Jew professed his religion in Babylon; he did not merge his Judaism in Babylonianism. He stood out in Babylon a Jew. Why not stand out a Christian? I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, says one. You are not to blow the trumpet; but there is another thing you are not to do--you are not to hide the light; you are not to place it under a bed, or under a bushel, or hide it in a cupboard.
2. A lively sympathy with the state of the Church.
3. Zeal for the Churchs purity. This must be tempered with prudence and steeped in charity.
4. Prayer and effort for the Churchs prosperity.
II. Some of its leading principles. They are to be found in the Bible.
1. The love of God. This love has prompted the noblest exertions. Shall I take you over the traces where this public spirit has displayed itself? shall I take you to the spots where apostles suffered, where martyrs bled, where confessors were burnt,? Shall I take you to Smithfield and its fires, or the Grass Market in Edinburgh and its martyrs fires? What prompted men to such a nobility? It was this mighty principle--the love of God, the love of Christ.
2. A consideration of the connection subsisting between a Christian and Christ and His Church. No Christian lives to himself. The Christian is no isolated man; he is no solitary soldier. He feels himself one of a brotherhood; one of a great fellowship.
3. In proportion as we feel not only for our own things, but for the things of others, and especially for the things of grace, and Christ Jesus, just in that proportion do we most promote our own honour and our own happiness. God, in constructing the human heart, putting it together--putting his labours together, and lacing them together, has so adjusted the chemistry of the heart, the mechanism of the heart, that, if you do good to anybody--either to the body or soul of a man, especially the latter--if you do good, a feeling of pleasure will weave all around the pulsation of your heart; for it is your law, your constitution. God has made you all, so that you cannot do good and not promote your own happiness and your own honour. (J. Beaumont, M. D.)
How to preserve and increase patriotism
By keeping in remembrance the virtues and principles of the noble and patriotic men who laid the foundations of this republic. While the memory of the immortal Washington and his co-patriots is green, and the principles of his Farewell Address are cherished by us, we are safe.
2. By honouring with suitable memorial services those who have sacrificed ease and fortune and life itself at their countrys call, in behalf of liberty, principle, the right.
3. By the enactment of wise and equitable laws, and a faithful and impartial execution of them. Never was the necessity of this greater or more imperative than now.
4. By elevating patriotism into a Christian virtue. Patriotism without piety; patriotism divorced from Christianity and the institutions of religion; the State, civil society, politics, given over to infidelity, to ungodliness, to the tyranny of human passions and selfish seeking, cannot be long maintained. And here is our greatest danger to-day. (Homiletic Review.)
Religious attachments
Do cultivate religious attachments. Do not let all things be equally common: do let us have a little enthusiasm about some men, and some places, and some books, and some scenes. Oh, it is not living to live with a person to whom all places are alike,--who does not know what he is eating, whether it is the very best or the worst. There is no comfort in living with such an individual, on whom the best of your things are wasted. There is no comfort in living with an individual to whom all systems, and all churches, and all rituals are alike. Do have your preferences,--not that you may antagonize the preferences of other people, and make yourself unpleasant to those who may differ from you; but do get to love some particular seat in the church--some particular corner. A man cannot go slick down to hell, surely, if he loves one little bit of the sanctuary better than he loves any place else on the earth. Oh, we can surely get hold of him there: we can surely touch him through that one little preference. It is a very poor hold to have upon him, but it is better than nothing. Do you mourn your distance from Zion, and are you unable to sing when you are in far-off Babylon? There is hope for you. One day the Jew that hung his harp upon the willow shall take it down. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 If I ignore the memory of you, Jerusalem
If I ignore the memory of you, Jerusalem
The writer speaks as if Jerusalem is listening to him. AT: "If I act as if I did not remember you, Jerusalem" or "If I try to forget you, Jerusalem" (See: Personification and Apostrophe)
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right hand
the hand most people use most often
translationWords
Jerusalem
tongue
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 137:5-6 The psalmist pledges his loyalty to Jerusalem, the…
137:5-6 The psalmist pledges his loyalty to Jerusalem, the city at the center of God’s reign and the location of fellowship with him.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.