Lamenting Babylon

Super flumina Babylonis, ibi sedimus et flevimus. Tripliciter iste psalmus intellegi potest: et de captivitate quae populo accidit ludaeorum, quando in Babylonem translati sunt, et ibi variis modis ludificati: et de peccatoribus, qui de ecclesia eiecti traduntur diaboli potestati: et de superiori, ut quidam volunt, captivitate, qua in vallem lacrimarum generosa quondam caterva deducta est. In salicibus in medio eius suspendimus organa nostra. Qui super Babylonis flumina sedet, et recordatur Sion, nec potest tenere lacrimas, non penitus desperandus est a salute. Salix autem infructuosa arbor est, quae semper humoribus, semper aquis delectatur et pluviis. Ita et nos si quando sancti fuerimus: si nosmet ipsos vitiis, libidini, lasciviae dederimus, organa quibusquondam canebamus Deo, in infructuosis arboribus suspcndinius. Cantate nobis de canticis Sion. Superbus victor vult sibi ludos et delicias de Dei canticis exhiberi. Quomodo cantabimus cantictmi Doniini in terra aliena ? Quando caro nostra peccatis servit et vitiis, et facta est terra aliena, Deo cantare non possumus. Memento Fomine filiorum Edom.  Lege Abdiam prophetam, et ibi invenies Idumaeos in die captivitatis ludaeorum exsultasse, et stetisse in exitibus ad conprehendendos eos qui fugerunt, ne quis posset evadere. Quia vero Edom 'terrenus ' sive  'deficiens ' interpretatur, intellege contrarias inimicasque virtutes semper hoc agere, ut nihil in ecclesia, nihil in lerusalem remaneat. Filia Babylonis misera. Pro genetivo casu, vocativum in hebraeo habet. ἀποστροφή ad Babylonem dirigitur, ut sit sensus: O filia Babylon. Miseram 'Aquila et Symmachus ' depopulatam ' interpretati sunt atque ' vastatam '. Beatus qui restituet tibi quod restituisti nobis. Cyrum, inquiunt, significat qui subvertit Babylonem, et usque ad innoxiam aetatem eius in Chaldaeos feritas desaevit, et captivitatem Israhel in ludaeam primus remisit. Alias autem, omnis sanctus Babyloni vicem restituit : captivam eam ducit, quae se quondam captivum habuerat : et incipientes sordidos cogitatus elidit ad petram, petra autem est Christus, ne crescant, ne adolescant, ne ad pubertatem venientes adversus eum resistant fortius, et interfici nequeant. Sanctus Hieronimus, Commentarioli, Ps CXXXVI.

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept. 1   This Psalm is able to be understood in three ways: concerning the captivity which befell the Jewish people, when they were taken to Babylon, and there in various ways mocked; and concerning sinners, who ejected from the Church pass over into the power of the Devil, and concerning things above, which in their captivity they wish for, in the valley of tears, into which that large crowd that has been led away. In the midst of the willows we hung our instruments. He who sits by the rivers of Babylon and remembers Sion, he is not able to hold himself from tears, nor utterly give himself to despair of salvation. The willow is an unfruitful tree, which is ever found near wet places, for it delights in rivers and moisture. Thus even we, if we were holy, and if then we have given ourselves to some vice, lust or desire, we hang in the fruitless trees the instruments by which once we sang to God. Sing to us a song from the songs of Sion. The proud victor wishes the delights and delicacies of the songs of God to be revealed to him. How can we sing the song of the Lord in an alien land? When our flesh serves sin and vice it is made into a foreign land and we are not able to sing to God. Be mindful, O Lord, of the sons of Edom. Read the prophet Obadiah, and there you will find that the Idumeneans exulted in the day of the captivity of the Jews, and they stood at the exits to seize those who fled, that no one be able to escape. 2 Because truly Edom means 'earthly' or 'passing away', understand that enemies opposing the virtues always do this, that nothing in the Church, nothing in Jerusalem, remain. Wretched daughter of Babylon. For the possessive case the Hebrew has the vocative. As an apostrophe directed to Babylon it may be rendered: 'O daughter Babylon.' And for 'wretched' Aquila and Symmachus translate 'wasted' and 'deserted' Blessed is he who returns to you what you returned to us. They say this signifies Cyrus who overthrew the Babylonians and even against those in innocent age his Chaldeans worked out their rage; and he was the first to send back captive Israel to Judea. Others however say it is of every holy one to return it to Babylon and lead it into captivity, that which once had made him captive, and he begins by smashing sordid thoughts against a rock, and the rock is Christ, lest thethoughts grow, lest they mature, lest they come into their prime and attack him more strongly, and they are unable to be overcome. Saint Jerome,The Little Commentary on the Psalms, Psalm 136 1 Ps 136.1 2 Obadiah 11-14