Psalm 137: This is the Word of the Lord

Psalm 137 is the talk of the web. See this post by Lingamish for discussion and links. Henry Neufeld widens the net further.

In this post, I affix four theses to the Wittenberg door of cyberspace concerning Psalm 137. It is my view that this psalm – all of it, including its last verses – is a snapshot of the pulsating heart of faith under fire – and that anyone who thinks they possess a faith that has no need to embrace this psalm - all of it - has either had a life empty of Job-like suffering or has yet to apply the Socratic dictum “Know thyself!” to themselves.

 

(1) The last two verses of Psalm 137 are often regarded as an erratic mass in the larger structure of the canon of scripture. Those who desire to surgically remove these verses from the canon do not seem to realize that their scalpel will need to cut wide and deep elsewhere in scripture to remove the thorn of Ps 137:8-9 from their comfortable flesh. A short list of other texts whose cry for justice is just as vehement, or more so, than that of Ps 137:8-9: Isa 13-14; 47; Jer 50-51; Habakkuk (regarding Babylon); Isa 63:1-6; Lam 4:21-22; Ezek 25:12-14; Jer 49:7-22; Obad; Mal 1:2-5 (regarding Edom); Pss 74 and 79 (regarding Babylon and its allies); Isa 10:5-34; 14:24-27; Nahum (regarding Assyria); 1 Macc 2:68 (regarding the regime of Antiochus Epiphanes); Revelation 17:1-19:10 (regarding Babylon in the archetypal sense, and, specifically, the Roman Empire). Ah, you say, but my gentle Jesus, meek and mild, knew nothing of such vehemence. Fools! Have you not read Luke 6:24-25: “Woe to you who are rich; you have had your time of consolation! Woe to you who are well-fed; you will be hungry! Woe to you who laugh now: you will mourn and weep!”

(2) The last two verses of Psalm 137 cry out for proportional retribution. Small potatoes. Psalm 79 cries out for sevenfold retribution. Revelation 18:4-7a ups the ante in two ways. First of all, it does not leave the retribution to God. In that text, God leaves it to his people to execute twofold retribution on Babylon the Great: “My people, come out of her, lest you participate in her sins, and lest you share her suffering. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes. Render to her as she has rendered, and repay her double for what she has done. In the cup from which she poured, pour a double portion. As she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, give her a like measure of torment and grief.”[1] The horrifying conclusion of Psalm 137 is not as vehement as these texts. Yet all are to be embraced as legitimate children of faith under fire. Perhaps, in a moment of calm, one will do well to sing a lullaby to these children and lay them down to sleep. Perhaps, in other moments, it is the believer’s duty to understand what it means to pay back Babylon twofold for the evil she has done, to give the devil incarnate of worldly power torment and grief for all he has done to the least of these my brethren.

(3) Psalm 137, all of it, is the bloody squealing child of a people that found itself cut off from everything it loved. Why is this so hard to grasp? In the immortal words of Salvatore Quasimodo:

E come potevamo noi cantare

con il piede straniero sopra il cuore,

tra i morti abbandonati nelle piazze,

sull’erba dura di ghiaccio,

al lamento d’agnello dei fanciulli,

all’urlo nero della madre

che andava incontro al figlio

crocifisso sul palo del telegrafo?

Alle fronde dei salici, per voto,

anche le nostre cetre appese:

oscillavano lievi al triste vento.[2] 

(4) As Gianfranco Ravasi put it: Psalm 137 “unites pain and ferocity; melancholic tenderness and passion; intense love for Zion and liturgical imprecation against enemies; a melodic ode of hope and an implacable, violent, savage, march to war. Two heterogeneous registers harmonically fused by Old Testament poetry and faith.”[3] Whence this harmonic fusion? The tormented soul of the children of Sarah and Abraham who inhabited the gulag archipelago of the Babylonians following the destruction of Jerusalem. If you are unable to look into the mirror of that soul and see a reflection of your own, the whole Bible, not just Psalm 137, is a closed book for you.

It was not easy for me to write up these theses. The juice from which they come has been stewing in my gut for decades. Ever since I walked down State Street in Madison as a young lad after peace demonstrators trashed it. Ever since I watched the Vietnam War on television night after night, the blood spattering the screen, and then my youthful dreams. Ever since I was a militant in the peace movement of the early 1980s, and blocked the construction of the cruise missile base in Comiso, Sicily, along with hundreds of other demonstrators from across Europe, and led Bible studies on Revelation 18 in Italian and English in the cool evenings between the daytime blockades (what a spiritually hungry congregation I had: Italian anarchists from Lazio and Naples, German and Italian Protestants, and Catholic youth from Veneto brought down by their pro-Soviet priests): we longed for the Babylons of this world to fall – since then, one has fallen, but seeks to raise its ugly head again; smaller Babylons, too, have bit the dust, but as for the other, in whose gut I live, we continue to act and pray for its demise according to the clear teaching of the last book of the Christian canon. And, finally, ever since I wrote my thesis for the Waldensian Theological Seminary in Rome on imperialism as a locus theologicus in the book of Isaiah. In that thesis, however, I did not find the courage to say the things I said above. I thought I might horrify people. I suppose I have.

---

[1] My translation adapts that of David Aune, whose comment on Rev 17:1-19:10 is essential reading for those who wish to understand: Revelation 17-22 (WBC 52C; Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1998) 905-1040.

[2] And how could we sing / with the foot of the stranger on our heart / among the abandoned dead in the public squares, / on the hard grass of ice, / to the lamb’s lament of children, / to the black wail of the mother / who went to find her son / crucified on a telegraph pole? / In the fronds of weeping willows, by oath, / our harps also appended: / they oscillated gently in the sad breeze. (My translation.) Quasimodo evokes events of the occupation of Italy by German fascists.

[3] Gianfranco Ravasi, Il libro dei Salmi: commento e attualizzazione (3 vols.; Lettura pastorale della Bibbia; Bologna: Edizioni Dehoniane, 1981, 1983, 1984) 3: 745-770; 754 (my translation).

Comments

[Tim]

John, thank you for this, it must have been hard to write. I need to think it through some more - I've often wished passages like this were removed from the canon, even though I believe that wrong! God bless, Tim

[Lingamish]

Molto bene, amico.

[Hebrew Student]

Remember that every word of the Hebrew Tanakh is inspired :-) What people reap, that is what they will sow. In the prophet Obadiah, we read of the terrible cruelty which the people of Edom did to their brethren. Psalm 137 is only saying to do back to them, what they did to the children of Israel without mercy.

[The Mission 4]

John
I like that psalm 137.7-9 is left in the bible. In this passage they are crying out for proportional retribution for being cast out of Babylon. I also agree that asking for proportional retribution for everyone who wrongs us is not how we are supposed to go about our life. I know how this could send a wrong impression to people that these thoughts are normal and are “ok” to have which is why this text might not be liked. However I do think that it is important that it should be left in the bible to show us that they are real people. By this I mean that you can relate to then and you know how deeply upset that they are in their current situation.

[True Grit 2]

I agree with the mission 4. Pain and suffering is hard to deal with but it is part of life and is all around us and that is why it is important that it is in the bible, because it is real.

-true grit 2

[Dead Man Walking 2]

My question would be why does god seem so double sided? Why does he at sometimes talk of turning the other cheek and in this passage talk of large scale retribution? To me it seems that the scholars who wrote the Bible either got something wrong or it shows one of the many problems with the Bible. It seemingly can’t decide what it really wants to say. I personally have many troubles with the way that the Bible changes and it is at the root of my problems with the blind following of the church.

[Pulp Fiction 4]

I honestly think that psalm 137:7-9 should be left in the Bible. I think asking for proportional retribution for people who have done us wrong, is not the right way to go about life. But I do believe this shows that these people are just as real as we are. I have been through a lot of tough times in my life. I have had to cope with a lost of an older brother at a young age, and to be honest I was mad at everyone around me. I went through a phase of why me, and why my brother. Now I never wished it upon for anyone else to go through this so they could feel what I was feeling, but I was still angry. Pain and hardships like that, are very hard to cope with, but I am a firm believer that God will never put us through something we won't be able to handle. That is why this passage to stay in the Bible, it gives us a good understanding that these people suffered pain and hardships just like we do in everyday life today.

[Praying with Lior 2]

I believe that Psalm 137 should be in the Bible, because like other people have stated, it demonstrates how they are not perfect people. How people cry out in anger when something horrible has happened to them and their minds cannot understand why. At this state, they may think of horrible things to be done to whoever caused their suffering. This is a relatable passage to so many people who have had to deal with various hardships in their lives. Many people can relate to this passage if they have had to deal with hardships in their lives. A lot of people feel and express some of the same emotions that can be seen in Psalm 137.

[Shawshank Redemption 3]

I think that Psalm 137 should be kept in the Bible in its entirety. It not only expresses the emotions of these people, but also represents what almost everyone feels at one point in their life. Almost everyone goes through some kind of hardship in their life when there is someone oppressing them or has done some kind of wrongdoing toward them and I'm sure that anyone who has gone through something like that has wished for some kind of retribution. I think that Psalm 137 makes some people uncomfortable because it shows an ugly side of us that people usually try to hide. I don't think that praying for retribution means that you are going to go out and get even yourself. I think of it as asking for God to make sure that people who do bad things will get what they deserve, whether it happens in this life or the next. I also believe that this will happen whether you pray for it or not. Sooner or later, everyone gets what they deserve.

[Nell 1]

This Psalm should be left in the Bible. It shows that the people were real back then and people in today’s time can relate to them in hard situations. Pain and suffering are everywhere in the world. It is not just something that occurred back then and has left us now. No one can escape pain and suffering because it is a result of sin, and sin will always be in the world. The Bible must discuss these types of problems because these problems are real and people will find comfort in reading that they are not alone. I don’t think that asking for proportional retribution for people who have done us wrong is always the right way to go about things, but it shows people are real, just like us. Pain and suffering can be hard to deal with but everyone, including non-believers, need to realize that God doesn’t give us more than we can handle.

[Nell 3]

The beauty of Psalm 137 is that it gives people back then human characteristics and human emotions like pain and suffering. This makes it easier to read what is in the bible and make connections with it because it has material meaning in our own lives. We all know what it’s like to endure pain and suffer through things, and reading about people doing just that during biblical times can really create an escape for some. Reading about how they handled their situations and what helped them get through back then is a great way to deal with pain and suffering today and make that personal connection with the messages the Bible has to offer us.

[Nell 4]

I also believe that Psalm 137 should be left in the Bible. Every day, people experience pain and suffering and there's nothing one can do about it. That's just part of life unfortunately. I do know when one goes through a hard time; most do turn to the Bible. Having Psalm 137 in the Bible will create a sense of relief for others and can demonstrate guidance of how their not alone, because when one goes through pain and suffering we all mostly turn to God for answers.

[Mission 2]

I think that Psalm 137 should definitely be left int he Bible. Pain and suffering is something that everyone experiences and we all want answers during it. It would be a shame to have relate-able material removed.

[Shawshank Redemption 4]

I just don't understand the last part of Psalm 137. How could someone agree with punishing ones youth based on the actions that their parents took part in. Its hard for me to understand how someone could agree with this. It is inhuman and not right at all. The fact that it would be written in the bible would make me question my catholic beliefs entirely. The first parts are understandable. And maybe I am looking into this the wrong way. So if someone could help me out with this that would be great. Thanks.

[Dead Man Walking 5]

I completely agree with Shawshank Redemption 4, I have no idea why the last part of Psalm 137 is included. This makes no sense at all to me. "Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks". What??? This makes me feel like everything that I have learned about loving, caring, and kindness in the bible has been thrown out the window. I really don't understand why this is even in the bible. Like Shawshank Redemption 4, I may be completely misunderstanding this, but this passage makes God look like the bad guy. I believe that pain and suffering goes on throughout the world but, in my opinion, this passage really doesn't reflect that at all.

[True Grit 1]

Along with everyone else, I too agree that Psalm 137: 7-9 should remain in the Bible. Yes, as a Christian I do agree it is confusing to see such retribution in a holy text. After debating in my head, I decided that it’s another lesson that the Bible likes to teach us. It shows us power, and to fear that power. I also found myself agreeing with Pulp Fiction 4. They mention, “I am a firm believer that God will never put us through something we won't be able to handle.” God teaches us lessons, some more painful than others. Regardless they all hold meaning. Without these few verses this would not be as clear in this Psalm. Bible readers need to know that God has great power used mostly for good, but also a fearful power when necessary. This doesn’t make God a “bad guy” in my eyes because I know all of the good and love He is capable of. However, I do see where individuals can get confused.

[The Truman Show 5]

I to agree with the others when I say that Psalm 137: 7-9 should remain in the Bible. I do find it confusing though as to how it made in, in the first place, but regardless once it's been deemed holy enough for the Bible, I believe it should be there to stay. I agree with TG 1 and what they are saying about God and the lessons he makes us learn, whether they are hard ones or easy ones. People just need to remember that our Lord is "out to get us" when he shows his power or tries to frighten us, he's showing his eternal love for us.

[Lior 4]

I agree with most everyone that Psalm 137:7-9 should stay in the bible. It does seem to offer a more human reaction than what we sometimes see in the bible. It is interesting how this made it in when so much of the bible talks about being kind to your fellow man. That being said, I still believe that it should remain.

[Nell 6]

Like other people have stated previously Psalm 137 would be good in the Bible. It is real life, everyone has bad days and just screams out in pain. As it says it is a bloody child screaming out when it is cut off of everything it loved. In every ones lives there is a time you lose something or someone you love and you just want to scream out in pain and a lot of times you actually do. I know in my own experience when I have lost a family member especially I have wanted to cry but in the back of my mind there is always something saying just be strong and don’t cry but I never thought that maybe it could be a reason from the bible.

[breaker morant 2]

I believe this passage should be kept in the bible also. In reality, we all have or will deal with a signifiant death or something that makes us ask why me? How could God do this to me. In this passage, we are shown that dealing with this is something we all eventually must go through. It's definitely not easy, but if God brought you to it, he'll bring you through it!

[Truman Show 2]

As a Christian, I believe that Psalms 137 should stay in the Bible. This verse shows me that when you are going through pain and suffering that you are not the only one, but everybody in the world goes through pain and suffering. Psalms 137 also show me that the people who hurt you may not be punished here on Earth but they will be punished by God. I agree with the first thesis that if Psalms 137 is removed, then many more verses of the Bible that speak deeply to people would have to be removed along with Psalms. Some people might want Psalms 137 removed because this verse might be showing them that they will have to pay for everything that they have done someday.

[The Mission 2]

A lot of focus is put into the last two verses of Psalm 137 in this essay. The cruelty and hopeful vengeance calls a lot of attention to itself. But you need to remember that they just got out of captivity in Babylon and are remembering how harsh slavery can be. It’s not hard to imagine that some Israelites were beaten, whipped, or murdered, even the women and children! But like today in war, women and children weren’t always spared in the heat of battle or in slavery. So it’s natural for the Israelites to want the Babylonians to feel the pain they were in for the last several years, even if it means to hurl their infants against the rocks. When reading over this particular psalm, I can picture the weary Israelites walking through the rubble of Jerusalem and weeping over the harsh slavery they just went through.

[The Mission 7]

My opinion might be the same as many but I agree when you said that if people were to decide to remove those verses from the psalm, they will also have to turn their heads and judge other parts of the Bible. But that is the whole point of the Bible. It is there for us to decipher its contents among ourselves and through faith and prayer, understand what it is our Lord is trying to tell us. The Bible is not some young adult fictional tale but an enigma that takes real trust in God to believe. Not everything will make sense and I find a sort of beauty in that. On another note, people think too hard on such matters and must seek the truth beyond the words or “read between the lines.” I think Psalm 137 is an informative text and every word in it has a purpose.

[Dead Man Walking 6]

I think Psalm 137 should remain in the Bible. People have to have an experience of pain and suffering at least once in their life time whether at young ages or later. That is just part of life unfortunately. I know that Psalm 137 makes some people uncomfortable because it determines a bad side of us which people usually try to hide. But the Bible brings up these types of problems such as retribution because it happens in real life. People will be much more comfortable reading it and feel that they are not alone. In my opinion, I do not think praying for retribution means making one‘s self any better. It means more about asking for God to make sure those who do bad thing to others will be paid back, whether it happens in this life or the next one. I believe God always watches out for what we are doing, so everyone will get what they deserve.

[The Mission 3]

I think that Psalm 137 should stay in the Bible because although it is a difficult passage to imagine, it is just portraying that if a person does something that is not right in God’s eyes, He is going to know even if nobody else does. He will make sure that person is reprimanded for their wrong-doings depending on the degree of their faults – maybe not right away but it will happen. Nobody can escape God and it seems like people dislike this passage in Psalm 137 because they don’t like to face the fact that God knows all and there is no going around that.

[true grit 5]

We can relate to Psalm 137 because daily we want retribution for those that have wronged us. In this passage the Israelites lost their city, Babylon had destroyed them and taken any happiness that they had. They were mourning the loss of their city and being mocked to sing praises when they felt nothing could be praised in a time like this. As Christians we tend to take to heart those killed in another country for preaching the Word of God and tend to want retribution to those who could kill innocent blood. But all that can come to my mind is Paul. He had been imprisoned, beaten and so on for preaching Jesus’ resurrection but yet his spirit never diminished. To actually be beaten for his savior and locked up was pleasing to him. Every trial in our life is just an opportunity to strengthen ourselves up, so to not take anger to the heart but go to the Lord in prayer in hope that He will intercede in our life.

[Breaker Morant 6]

Shawshank redemption 4 and dead man walking 5, you guys have a point in saying that this verse should not be in the bible. Why would the little ones be punished for the sins of their fathers? This, I do not agreed with, but since I believe that "All Scripture is Inspired of God", I may have to say that it could be metaphorical. Maybey, it is referring to a prophecy of an event about to come. God, I believe, do inspired the biblical writers to write prophecy that they are unaware of. Another thing is this psalms was written under a time of pain and suffering, so it was necessary for them to write retribution to the little ones. So the one who is in pain and suffering can relate to these psalms. But, over all, these verses should not be used to know and understand God.

[Chariots of Fire 2]

I also believe that Psalm 137 should be left in the bible. I feel that it is in here for a reason. Pain and suffering are terrible things that happen to us. They only make us stronger and there is no possible way to avoid these types of things. In addition to what Pulp Fiction 4 says, although these people are going about things the wrong way, it makes us realize now that these people are just like us. They make mistakes and have to learn from them. Also without past pain in our society, we wouldn’t be able to grow and move on. We’d forever be stuck almost and not be able to learn from God and understand our sins.

[Praying with Lior 3]

So many of us pass judgment on those who believe in retribution, or an eye for an eye, without any thought of what it may be like to be in the shoes of those who have been wronged so horribly. Like you said Dr. Hobbins, have these people never suffered Job-like suffering or been wronged in a way that would make them bitter with vengeance? I think it is human nature to want to get back at people, but I think God’s test to us is in how we handle those feelings of retribution. Being a divorced parent, I have been faced with situations many times where I thought vengeance would be so sweet but I try to extend grace. I own my feelings of bitterness but refrain from acting on retribution for the sake of not only my own integrity but that of my son.

[breaker morant4]

Psalm 137 was put in the bible for a reason and if it was put in the bible it is the word of are Lord. No man should be able to change the bible. Chariots of Fire 2 I agree with what your saying. Making mistakes are the best way to learn.

[Nell 2]

I tend to agree with the majority of those that have posted; Psalm 137:7-9 should not be edited or taken out of the Bible. As the Bible is the work of the Lord, this verse has been deemed holy enough to stay placed just where it is. I would agree that it is confusing, but much of the Bible can be. Within the Bible, God teaches us different lessons. These lessons have come down to still be laws today. We have not questioned other verses as much as this one, but what if another verse was taking out; today our laws may have been different then we are accustomed to. Throughout all of this, it is important to keep in mind that God loves us and would not test us, make us struggle, or worry about what He has given us.

[True Grit 3]

I agree as well. I believe that passages such as this make the feelings of the people in the Bible more real and almost relatable in a way. Everyone feels like getting back at someone who wronged you, but it's the way you handle the feelings you have. Do you act on them? Do you instead at with grace and subdue the feelings and ask God to show you a better path? Learning is what the Bible is all about for me, and this is lesson everyone has to learn. It should remain in the Bible for good reasons even though it cant be questioned a million times over. Its there to teach us!

[The Mission 21]

Like many people have posted before me it is my belief that Psalm 137:7-9 should not be taken out of the bible or even edited for that matter. If the Bible is the true word of the Lord (according to many people) then why would man attempt to change God's word in ways that make life easier for man. Especially when man has made so many judgmental mistakes over the years. Another thing to think about is if the Bible keeps getting changed over and over, then when does the original message become too clouded to see clearly. I definitely agree with what Breaking Morant 4 said. I believe mistakes are the best way for human beings to learn

[Breaker Morant 1]

I too agree with many people before, that Psalms should be kept in the Bible. We don't like to hear about retributions in the Bible and it is hard for us to understand why it was put there in the first place. But I believe that it was placed in the Bible so that I could teach us another lesson, just like many other verses do.

I also really like what Mission 21 says, " If the Bible is the true word of the Lord (according to many people) then why would man attempt to change God's word in ways that make life easier for man." Why would we want to change this if it is put there for a significant reason. Some of us may not realize the significance of it being in the presence of the Bible or even the reason why it is put there, but God knows the reason why.

[The Mission 5]

While these verses might not be pleasant, removing them would give idea for other verses to be removed. If you let everyone pick and choose what should be in the bible, pretty soon everything with be removed.

[True Grit 1]

I agree with Mission 21 that Psalm 137:7-9 should be in the book and not be taken out or even rewrite it. From what I believed I think every word in the Bible is true and is also God's words. Everyone makes mistake and the way to learn how to be a better person is when you learn your own mistake of what you did wrong. This passage talks about humans reaction and feelings in the Bible that most people who reads the Bible know how those who lived there before how they felt when they were still there.

[Pulp Fiction 1]

Pain and suffering are feelings that people had when Christ was around and also what we have now. It’s something that will never go away, but we need to fight through it and pray for what we believe in; The Lord. Nothing is given to us and at times we need to do what is best for us in life. If that means you get a job and leave other contenders behind, then so be it. Your life should always be about you and the people who surround you. It is hard to find security in this world without knowing that the ones you surround yourself with are also accepted by the Lord himself. Pain and suffering is two things that people deal with every day, regarding their problems; in the end Psalm 137 is a passage you can see from many different angles. This was my perception and I cannot agree more with Nell 1.

[TheTrumanShow1]

Psalm 137 is in the Bible for a reason, so as many have said beforehand, why even consider taking it out to make others happy? If the Bible only talked about the good in the world, and what would happen to those who are blameless, then the people who live their lives poorly would have nothing to fear and keep continuing to live the same way. Also once you start changing certain verses in the Bible, it almost forces more changes to every other book in the Bible. The Bible has existed for almost 2,000 years now, so why change two verses in Psalms now to appeal to those who are living bad lives and shall get their just punishment by the Lord.

[Nell 5]

Well put TheTrumanShow 1. The Bible has been around for centuries and in no regard should it be changed. To change or even omit anything from the Bible is like trying to silence God. Yes that is a bold statement but think about it for a second. This is what it says in John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Seems to me that if anything in the Bible were to be taken out, then I think it is safe to say that you are eliminating parts of God. Leave the Bible as it is and everything will go well with you.

[Pulp Fiction 6]

I also believe that Psalm 137 should be in the bible because it has truth in it. Even though people want to be able to say they do not get mad or wish bad things upon others, we all do it. Almost everyone I have come across has been in a situation in which someone inflicts some sort of havoc in their lives and they want 'revenge'. Most of the time it is kept to themselves, or empty threats, but they have thoughts of what if this happened to you or how would you like it if I did this to you. I think this verse shows that and proves that yes, we are indeed, all humans.

[Truman Show 4]

This Psalm sticks out to me mostly because it is a stark contrast from most of the other Psalms. It is not speaking of the great things God has created or the amazing provisions he gives to his people. It speaks of destruction and sadness. To me that makes this Psalm a much more real one than the others. It's easy to praise God when everything is going right, but can be one of the hardest things to do when things are going badly. In a way this coincides with the book of Job and his extreme suffering. Your devotion to God increases tenfold if you can do it during the worst of times, just like the author of this Psalm.

[Dead Man Walking 5]

I believe that Psalm 137 should remain in the Bible. The pain and suffering that happens in this Psalm is a real life experience that many people have to deal with and it is a good thing that the Bible can help people to come to terms with it. Although this is an uncomfortable thing to read, it is necessary because it is something in real life that people try to hide, among other things, like retribution, that the Bible brings up.

[Chariots of Fire 4]

I think that regardless of if we take things out of the bible or if we keep it the same the Bible won't have the same meaning. I mean every age has had it's own translations for the Bible to give it a meaning that fits with the current age. So if the Bible were to be changed or altered it would have absolutely no difference because we choose how we read the Bible and what it means. The Bible will always be changing and we have no way to prevent it so why not change the Bible.

[The Truman Show 5]

I agree with some of the comments left above. The last part of Psalms should remain in the text, no mater how obscure the passage seems. When looking at Psalms, you can read any verse and get a sort of a universal meaning form it. No mater were you are in life, you can flip open Psalms and read a passage that you can use to aid in your struggles. This particular passage my not have as deep of an impact with people, but their is still a meaning to it.

[Breaker Morant 3]

I agree with the numerous others who have posted before me. The Bible is not a free for all that you can pick and choose what goes in. It actually sort of angers me to see how people think that if something doesn't relate to their lifestyle or disagrees with them or "offends" them in some way, it should just be "cut out." The Bible was put together in the specific way it has been for specific reasons. There is not a little (optional) before Psalm 137, so I feel it should be read and prayed about just like every other passage in the Bible.