Psalms 137:5

“If I forget thee, O Jerusalem - The meaning here is, that to sing in such circumstances would seem to imply that they had forgotten Jerusalem; that they were unmindful of its sorrows, and cared not that it was desolate. The remembrance of its calamities pressed hard upon them, and they could not do anything which would seem to imply that they had become unmindful of the sufferings that had come upon their nation. One will not make merry when a wife or child lies dying - or on the day of the funeral - or over the grave of a mother. A joyous and brilliant party, accompanied with music, feasting, dancing, when a friend has been just laid in the grave, when the calamities of war are abroad, when…”

“137:5-6 The psalmist pledges his loyalty to Jerusalem, the city at the center of God’s reign and the location of fellowship with him.”

“I forget: Psa 84:1, Psa 84:2, Psa 84:10, Psa 102:13, Psa 102:14, Psa 122:5-9; Neh 1:2-4, Neh 2:2, Neh 2:3; Isa 62:1, Isa 62:6, Isa 62:7; Jer 51:50; Dan 6:10, Dan 6:11 let my right: Zac 11:17 Psalms 137:6”