John Calvin Commentary Psalms 137:3

"For there they that led us captive required of us songs, And they that wasted us [required of us] mirth, [saying], Sing us one of the songs of Zion." — Psalms 137:3 (ASV)

Then they that carried us away captive, etc. We can be certain that the Israelites were treated with cruel severity under this barbarous tyranny to which they were subjected. And the worst affliction of all was that their conquerors reproachfully insulted them and even mocked them, their intention being less to wound the hearts of these miserable exiles than to direct blasphemies against their God.

The Babylonians had no desire to hear their sacred songs and very likely would not have allowed them to engage in the public praises of God. But they spoke ironically, and insinuated it as a reproach against the Levites that they should be silent, when it was formerly their custom to sing sacred songs.

It was as if they had said, "Is your God dead, to whom your praises were formerly addressed? Or if he delights in your songs, why do you not sing them?"

The last clause of the verse has been rendered in various ways by interpreters. Some derive תוללינו (tholalenu) from the verb ללי (yalal), to howl, reading — they required mirth in our howlings. Others translate it suspensions of mirth. Some take it as a participle of the verb הלל (halal), to rage, and read, raging against us. But since תלינו (talinu), the root of the noun used here, is taken in the preceding verse to mean "to suspend," I considered the reading I have adopted to be the simplest one.