Up to this point it is God the absolute in general, the Creator of all things, to the celebration of whose praise they are summoned; and from this point onwards the God of the history of salvation. In Psalm 136:13 גּזר (instead of בּקע, Psalm 78:13; Exodus 14:21; Nehemiah 9:11) of the dividing of the Red Sea is peculiar; גּזרים (Genesis 15:17, side by side with בּתרים) are the pieces or parts of a thing that is cut up into pieces. נער is a favourite word taken from Exodus 14:27. With reference to the name of the Egyptian ruler Pharaoh (Herodotus also, ii. 111, calls the Pharaoh of the Exodus the son of Sesostris-Rameses Miumun, not Μενόφθας, as he is properly called, but absolutely Φερῶν), vid., on Psalm 73:22. After the God to whom the praise is to be ascribed has been introduced with ל by always fresh attributes, the ל before the names of Sihon and of Og is perplexing. The words are taken over, as are the six lines of Psalm 136:17-22 in the main, from Psalm 135:10-12, with only a slight alteration in the expression. In Psalm 136:23 the continued influence of the construction הודוּ ל is at an end. The connection by means of שׁ (cf. Psalm 135:8, Psalm 135:10) therefore has reference to the preceding "for His goodness endureth for ever." The language here has the stamp of the latest period. It is true זכר with Lamed of the object is used even in the earliest Hebrew, but שׁפל is only authenticated by Ecclesiastes 10:6, and פּרק, to break loose equals to rescue (the customary Aramaic word for redemption), by Lamentations 5:8, just as in the closing verse, which recurs to the beginning, "God of heaven" is a name for God belonging to the latest literature, Nehemiah 1:4; Nehemiah 2:4. In Psalm 136:23 the praise changes suddenly to that which has been experienced very recently. The attribute in Psalm 136:25 (cf. Psalm 147:9; Psalm 145:15) leads one to look back to a time in which famine befell them together with slavery.

Psalm 137:5 Parallel Commentaries

I forget

Psalm 84:1,2,10 How amiable are your tabernacles, O LORD of hosts!...

Psalm 102:13,14 You shall arise, and have mercy on Zion: for the time to favor her, yes, the set time, is come...

Psalm 122:5-9 For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David...

Nehemiah 1:2-4 That Hanani, one of my brothers, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped...

Nehemiah 2:2,3 Why the king said to me, Why is your countenance sad, seeing you are not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart...

Isaiah 62:1,6,7 For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest...

Jeremiah 51:50 You that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still: remember the LORD afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.

Daniel 6:10,11 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem...

let my right

Zechariah 11:17 Woe to the idol shepherd that leaves the flock! the sword shall be on his arm, and on his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up...