1 A Psalm of David: to Jeremiah. Above the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept, while we remembered Zion.
Jerome · AD 420 Confess to the Lord, for he is good. And yet, even though heretics say that there is no repentance, still the prophet urges us to confess our sins. For God is good.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endures for ever" [Psalm 136:1]. This Psalm contains the praise of God, and all its verses finish in the same way.
2 By the willow trees, in their midst, we hung up our instruments.
Jerome · AD 420 Confess to the God of gods. He means these gods, of whom it is written: "I have said, you are gods." And again: "God stood in the synagogue of the gods." Those who cease to be men, and abandon their vices, and are made perfect: these are gods, and sons of the Most High.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Then follows, "Give thanks to the God of gods, for His mercy endures for ever" [Psalm 136:2]. "Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for His mercy endures for ever" [Psalm 136:3]. We may well enquire, Who are these gods and lords, of whom He who is the true God is God and Lord? And we find written in another Psalm, that even men are called gods.
3 For, in that place, those who led us into captivity questioned us about the words of the songs. And those who carried us away said: “Sing us a hymn from the songs of Zion.”
Jerome · AD 420 Confess to the Lord of lords. This is referred to the Son, and "to the God of gods" to the Father. To the Father, then, and to the Son we confess: for the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father.
4 How can we sing a song of the Lord in a foreign land?
Jerome · AD 420 Who alone does great wonders. First he said, "Confess to the God of gods"; and again, "to the Lord of lords." And since he named two persons, now he says, "Who alone does great wonders," so that he may not speak of two gods. For it is written: "One God, from whom are all things; and one Lord Jesus, through whom are all things, and we through him."
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Let us therefore "give thanks to the God of gods, and the Lord of lords, for His mercy," etc. "Who alone did wonderful things" [Psalm 136:4]. As at the last part of every verse, it is written, "For His mercy endureth for ever," so we must understand at the beginning of each, though it be not written, "Give thanks." Which indeed in the Greek is very plain.
5 If I ever forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten.
Jerome · AD 420 Who made the heavens with understanding. These are the heavens which "declare the glory of God," who have put on the image of the heavenly One: and there are heavens who have not put on the image of the earthly one.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 But what means, "who alone does great wonders"? Is it because many wonderful things He has done by means of angels and men? Some wonderful things there are which God does alone, and these he enumerates, saying, "who by His wisdom made the heavens" [Psalm 136:5], "who stretched out the earth above the waters" [Psalm 136:6], "who alone made great lights" [Psalm 136:7].
6 May my tongue adhere to my jaws, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem first, as the beginning of my joy.
Jerome · AD 420 Who established the earth upon the waters. Although the earth is said to hang upon the waters, that is, to hang in the sea, yet he founded and established our earth in baptism. He did not say, "he lifted up," or "he exalted," or "he made it ascend into the heavens." For baptism forgives sins, and frees us as if from prison: but it cannot grant the kingdoms of heaven.
7 O Lord, call to mind the sons of Edom, in the day of Jerusalem, who say: “Despoil it, despoil it, even to its foundation.”
Jerome · AD 420 Who made the great lights. According to the letter he speaks of the stars. Although we behold them as small, yet they are great. For just as with us, if we climb a high mountain, and see a man in the valley below, he seems to us as if something small: so also the stars are great, but from their height they seem small to us.
8 O daughter of Babylon, have pity. Blessed is he who will repay you with your payment, which you have paid to us.
9 Blessed is he who will take hold of your little ones and dash them against the rock.