Angry Enough to Harm Children?
A look at Psalm 137 and how it reminds us to feel our anger and hold to joy
As a teenager, I thought Psalm 137:9 was hilarious for being in the Bible since it is a completely unhinged violent verse about murdering children. And while a lot of pastors have tried to talk about how this is hyperbole and not actually about the desire to kill children. However, I would like to take a moment to explore the possibility that it is meant to be taken at face value and see if it might offer anything to us today as we face continued injustice and harm being perpetuated in our world.
Like many people, I’m worried about what the future looks like with a second Trump presidency. We have seen him use Nazi talking points, get funding from christofascist groups like the Heritage Foundation, have the development and intended implementation of Project 2025, dehumanize and paint our immigrant and refugee neighbors as violent criminals, and do/say much more. We have seen the harm and injustice that has occurred and we are preparing for more to come.
As a transgender woman, I am feeling the threat of rising fascism in our nation and how trans people are the scapegoat for conservative politicians. As I am writing this, House GOP members are trying to introduce a bill that targets our first and only openly trans member of Congress’ use of bathrooms. The injustice against trans people and so many others is real.
So, in light of all of this, I would like to give all of us permission (even though you do not need my permission) to feel and express your anger. It is real and it is not meant to be shied away from.
Psalm 137
1We sat by the rivers of Babylon and grieved when we remembered Zion.
2We hung our lyres among the willow trees.
3For our captors demand songs and those who verbally harass us joyously say “Sing us songs of Zion.”
4How can we sing the song of Y-1 in a foreign land?
5If I forget about you, Jerusalem, then I will forget my right hand.
6If I do not remember, if I do not lift up Jerusalem as the epitome of my joy, then my tongue will stick to my mouth.
7Y-, remember the sons of Edom who on the day of Jerusalem said, “completely destroy it to its foundations.
8Daughter of Babylon, the devastated on, the one who rewards you with the dealings that you dealt with us is blessed.
9The one who takes your children and dashes them against the rocks is blessed.
Context
Jerusalem fell and the first wave of captives were deported in 597 or 576 BCE with the nation of Judah formally falling to Babylon in 586 when the temple was destroyed. It is during this time period that the author’s point of view is taking place.
This is a song about a group of people who had their homeland destroyed and they are now forced to live and perform among the people who just killed their friends and family through starvation and warfare and took them to be captives in another land. So, likely this person experienced horrors that many of us could not imagine.
Anger
I think it is irresponsible of us to read this passage and think that “dashing your children against the rocks” is simply hyperbole. It is the expression of someone who more than likely does wish that Babylonian children would be killed so the parents could feel the pain that they have endured. Many people would lost their children to starvation during the siege of Jerusalem and in the war. If we try to placate this anger, we are missing out on the fact that a real human emotion is being expressed in the Bible.
Anger is a natural response to the injustice in our world. It is a natural response to watching and experiencing harm. It is part of what makes us human. And the Bible embraces that fact.
Anger is not something that needs to be avoided at all costs. When we are allowed to feel our anger, we are able to benefit from what anger brings. Specifically, its ability to empower us and protect our values (more benefits here).
Feel your anger. The harm is real.
Joy
In the midst of this expression of anger, there is something that I also want to point out. The author is still grounded in what brings them joy.
In this psalm, the word joy is used twice and is meant to be a contrast between the captives and the captors. The captors gain joy in their harassment of the author’s people. However, their harassment is predicated on the fact that they have power over the captive people and are lording it to their faces. Their joy is coming from their relationship to another person.
On the contrary, the author finds their joy in who they are and where they are from. It is a joy based on their relationship with their own self.
The captors’ joy is based in something that can be taken away, their power. But the captives’ joy is in something that cannot ever be taken away.
Be Angry and Hold Joy
Psalm 137 is not simply a song about violence. It is the real expression of real anger at real harm that happened to people. We are not meant to simplify it to make it palpable for our sensibilities. We are supposed to resonate with it as it is an expression of humanity itself. We are meant to feel anger, not repress it.
But while we feel anger, we still hold to the joy in who we are.
I have joy that I am a trans woman. It is a blessing to be trans. It is a blessing to be queer. It is a blessing to be me.
Whatever the future holds, feel your anger and ground yourself in the joy of who you are. That is something that cannot be taken away.
“Y-” is used in place of the divine name out of respect for different traditions.
This one carries the old fire I know too well... the fury that rises when a people are pushed past the edge of what a body can hold. Anger like that is memory refusing to be erased.
What moved me most is how they hold joy inside the same fist… the way a bruised soul still says, I am here, and I am mine.... Beautiful.
There’s something holy about refusing to tidy up the rage of the oppressed. Psalm 137 isn’t trying to inspire anyone. It’s a pressure valve. A bruise that finally speaks. A people naming what was done to them because silence would finish the job Babylon started.
Folks get uncomfortable when scripture stops being “encouraging” and starts sounding like someone who watched their life collapse. But grief that deep grows fangs. Anger that real remembers every child. And pretending it’s metaphor only protects the ones who never had to live through it.
The contrast you drew between the captors’ joy and the captive’s joy is the part that hits. One joy is built on domination. The other comes from identity that can’t be confiscated. Same thing we’re watching now. Authoritarians can pass their petty laws. They can’t erase the truth of who you are.
Anger is allowed. Anger is sane. Anger keeps the soul from slipping into resignation.
And joy that survives inside that anger. That’s resistance.
Blessed be the ones who feel the fire without letting it turn them cruel.
Blessed be the ones who guard that small, indestructible joy the way others guard their power.