Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Psalms 137:6

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

"Let my tongue cleave to my jaws, if I remember not you" [Psalm 137:6]. That is, let me be dumb, he says, if I remember not you. For what word, what sound does he utter, who utters not songs of Sion? That is our tongue, the song of Jerusalem. The song of the love of this world is a strange tongue, a barbarous tongue, which we have learned in our captivity. Dumb then will he be to God, who forgets Jerusalem. And it is not enough to remember: for her enemies too remember her, desiring to overthrow her. …

Exposition on Psalm 137 ↗

Jerome

Let my tongue cleave to my jaws, if I do not remember you. That is, let me have neither works nor speech, if the memory of you is not continually turned over in my heart.

Homily 48, on Psalm 136 ↗