Is there a weirder verse in the Bible than the one closing Psalm 137?

Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.

Shocking to see such hate expressed anywhere, let along in the pages of scripture. What frustration led to such a horrible pronouncement?

The first lines of the psalm opens our eyes: By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept…our captors asked for songs of joy…how can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?

Exiles from Jerusalem penned these words, brutally enslaved and carted off to Babylon. Famine, followed by murder, rape, robbery and carnage marked the last few years of their lives. These were resentful people forced to sing happy songs. A burning for vengeance hid behind their music.

One truth about the Bible emerges again and again—honest, strong emotions fill the pages. Nothing held back.

As terrible as this psalm reads, it reminds me that I can bring my own frustrations and bitterness to the Lord. Why sugarcoat even my most egregious thoughts? Blurt them out. God can handle them (he already knows them).

Taking my honesty, the Lord initiates a process of healing, which eventually allows me to experience his goodness once again.

Psalm 137 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Sasha Freemind