Psalm 137

Psalm

Psalm 137 is the 137th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down". The Book of Psalms is part of the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and a book of the Christian Old Testament. In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate translations of the Bible, this psalm is Psalm 136. In Latin, it is known by the incipit, "Super flumina Babylonis". The psalm is a communal lament about remembering Zion, and yearning for Jerusalem while dwelling in exile during the Babylonian captivity. The psalm forms a regular part of liturgy in Jewish, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and other Protestant traditions. It has often been set to music and paraphrased in hymns.

The following table shows the Hebrew text of the Psalm with vowels alongside an English translation based upon the JPS 1917 translation (now in the public domain). Verse HebrewEnglish translation (JPS 1917) 1 עַ֥ל נַהֲר֨וֹת ׀ בָּבֶ֗ל שָׁ֣ם יָ֭שַׁבְנוּ גַּם־בָּכִ֑ינוּ בְּ֝זׇכְרֵ֗נוּ אֶת־צִיּֽוֹן׃By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept, When we remembered Zion. 2 עַֽל־עֲרָבִ֥ים בְּתוֹכָ֑הּ תָּ֝לִ֗ינוּ כִּנֹּרוֹתֵֽינוּ׃Upon the willows in the midst thereof We hanged up our harps. 3 כִּ֤י שָׁ֨ם שְֽׁאֵל֪וּנוּ שׁוֹבֵ֡ינוּ דִּבְרֵי־שִׁ֭יר וְתוֹלָלֵ֣ינוּ שִׂמְחָ֑ה שִׁ֥ירוּ לָ֝֗נוּ מִשִּׁ֥יר צִיּֽוֹן׃For there they that led us captive asked of us words of song, And our tormentors asked of us mirth: ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion.' 4 אֵ֗יךְ נָשִׁ֥יר אֶת־שִׁיר־יְהֹוָ֑ה עַ֝֗ל אַדְמַ֥ת נֵכָֽר׃How shall we sing the LORD’S song In a foreign land? 5 אִֽם־אֶשְׁכָּחֵ֥ךְ יְֽרוּשָׁלָ֗͏ִם תִּשְׁכַּ֥ח יְמִינִֽי׃If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, Let my right hand forget her cunning. 6 תִּדְבַּֽק־לְשׁוֹנִ֨י ׀ לְחִכִּי֮ אִם־לֹ֢א אֶ֫זְכְּרֵ֥כִי אִם־לֹ֣א אַ֭עֲלֶה אֶת־יְרוּשָׁלַ֑͏ִם עַ֝֗ל רֹ֣אשׁ שִׂמְחָתִֽי׃Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, If I remember thee not; If I set not Jerusalem Above my chiefest joy. 7 זְכֹ֤ר יְהֹוָ֨ה ׀ לִבְנֵ֬י אֱד֗וֹם אֵת֮ י֤וֹם יְֽר֫וּשָׁלָ֥͏ִם הָ֭אֹ֣מְרִים עָ֤רוּ ׀ עָ֑רוּ עַ֝֗ד הַיְס֥וֹד בָּֽהּ׃Remember, O LORD, against the children of Edom The day of Jerusalem; Who said: 'Rase it, rase it, Even to the foundation thereof.' 8 בַּת־בָּבֶ֗ל הַשְּׁד֫וּדָ֥ה אַשְׁרֵ֥י שֶׁיְשַׁלֶּם־לָ֑ךְ אֶת־גְּ֝מוּלֵ֗ךְ שֶׁגָּמַ֥לְתְּ לָֽנוּ׃O daughter of Babylon, that art to be destroyed; Happy shall he be, that repayeth thee As thou hast served us. 9 אַשְׁרֵ֤י ׀ שֶׁיֹּאחֵ֓ז וְנִפֵּ֬ץ אֶֽת־עֹלָלַ֗יִךְ אֶל־הַסָּֽלַע׃Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones Against the rock.

After Nebuchadnezzar II's successful siege of Jerusalem in 597 BC, and subsequent campaigns, inhabitants of the Kingdom of Judah were deported to Babylonia, where they were held captive until some time after the Fall of Babylon (539 BC). The rivers of Babylon are the Euphrates river, its tributaries, and the Tigris river. Psalm 137 is a hymn expressing the yearnings of the Jewish people during their Babylonian exile. In its whole form of nine verses, the psalm reflects the yearning for Jerusalem as well as hatred for the Holy City's enemies with sometimes violent imagery. Rabbinical sources attributed the poem to the prophet Jeremiah, and the Septuagint version of the psalm bears the superscription: "For David. By Jeremias, in the Captivity."

The early lines of the psalm describe the sadness of the Israelites in exile, while remembering their homeland, weeping and hanging their harps on trees. Asked to "sing the Lord's song in a strange land", they refuse. 1. By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. 2. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. 3. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. 4. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? Methodist writer Joseph Benson reflects on the "inexpressible pathos in these few words! How do they, at once, transport us to Babylon, and place before our eyes the mournful situation of the Israelitish captives! Driven from their native country, stripped of every comfort and convenience, in a strange land among idolaters, wearied and broken hearted, they sit in silence by those hostile waters." He argues that the reference to harps reflects "all instruments of music" and that the words can probably be interpreted to mean that the singers were Levites used to the performance of music in the service of the temple.

The psalm ends with prophetic predictions of violent revenge. 7. Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof. 8. O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. 9. Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.

The psalm is customarily recited on Tisha B'Av and by some during the nine days preceding Tisha B'Av, commemorating the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem. Psalm 137 is traditionally recited before the Birkat Hamazon (Grace After Meals) on a weekday. However, on Shabbat and Jewish holidays, and at the celebratory meal accompanying a Jewish wedding, brit milah, or pidyon haben, Psalm 126 is recited before the Birkat Hamazon instead. Verses 5 and 6 are customarily said by the groom at Jewish wedding ceremony shortly before breaking a glass as a symbolic act of mourning over the destruction of the Temple. Verse 7 is found in the repetition of the Amidah on Rosh Hashanah. Psalm 137 is one of the ten Psalms of the Tikkun HaKlali of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches that use the Byzantine Rite, Psalm 137 (known by its Septuagint numbering as Psalm 136) is a part of the Nineteenth Kathisma (division of the Psalter) and is read at Matins on Friday mornings throughout the year, except during Bright Week (the week following Easter Sunday) when no psalms at all are read. During most of Great Lent it is read at Matins on Thursday and at the Third Hour on Friday, but during the fifth week of Great Lent it is read at Vespers on Tuesday evening and at the Third Hour on Friday. This psalm is also solemnly chanted at Matins (Orthros) after the Polyeleos on the three Sundays preceding the beginning of Great Lent.

In following the Rule of Saint Benedict (530 AD), the Catholic Church had Super flumina Babylonis set in the Roman Breviary for Vespers on Wednesdays. In the Roman Missal of 1962, the first verse of was the Offertory for the Mass on the 20th Sunday after Pentecost. After the Second Vatican Council, the last three verses of the psalm were deleted from liturgical books because their graphic cruelty was seen as incompatible with the Gospel message. In the three year cycle of texts for the Mass of Paul VI, promulgated in 1970 and called the Ordinary Form, this psalm is read on Laetare Sunday (that is the Fourth Sunday in Lent) of Year B. As with the reforms in the Catholic Church, the 1962 Book of Common Prayer used by the Anglican Church of Canada has also removed the last three verses. In Lutheranism, a well known hymn based on the psalm has been associated with a Gospel reading in which Jesus foretells and mourns the Destruction of Jerusalem .

The psalm has been set to music by many composers. Many settings omit the last verse. The hymnwriter John L. Bell comments alongside his own setting of this Psalm: "The final verse is omitted in this metricization, because its seemingly outrageous curse is better dealt with in preaching or group conversation. It should not be forgotten, especially by those who have never known exile, dispossession or the rape of people and land."

Latin settings ("Super flumina Babylonis") as four part motets were composed by Costanzo Festa, Nicolas Gombert, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Orlando Lassus. Philippe de Monte and Tomas Luis de Victoria set the text for eight parts. French Baroque settings were written by Henry Dumont, Marc Antoine Charpentier, 2 settings, H.170 (1670) and H.171 H.171 a (? late 1670), Charles Hubert Gervais (1723), Michel Richard Delalandé S.13 (1686). and François Giroust (1768). Wolfgang Dachstein's "An Wasserflüssen Babylon", a German rhymed paraphrase and setting of the psalm, was first published in 1525. A manuscript written in the early 17th century and a 1660s print illustrate that Dachstein's version of the psalm was adopted in Ashkenazi culture. Four part chorale settings of Dachstein's hymn were realised by, among others, Johann Hermann Schein and Heinrich Schütz. Schütz also set Luther's prose translation of Psalm 137 ("An den Wassern zu Babel", SWV 37, included in the Psalmen Davids, Op. 2, 1619), and another setting, SWV 242, for the Becker Psalter, published first in 1628. Organ compositions based on Dachstein's hymn include Johann Adam Reincken's An Wasserflüssen Babylon, and one of Johann Sebastian Bach's Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes. Salamone Rossi (1570–1630) set the psalm in Hebrew (עַל נַהֲרוֹת בָּבֶל, Al naharot Bavel) for four parts. Matthew Locke's Super flumina Babylonis motet is an extended setting of the first nine verses of the psalm. The psalm's first two verses were used for a musical setting in a round by English composer Philip Hayes. William Billings adapted the text to describe the British occupation of Boston in his anthem "Lamentation over Boston". Artemy Vedel composed two choral concertos based on the psalm in Ukrainian, Na rekakh Vavilonskikh.

Lord Byron's "We sat down and wept by the waters", a versified paraphrase of Psalm 137, was published in his Hebrew Melodies in 1815. The poetry was set by, among others, Isaac Nathan (1815) and Samuel Sebastian Wesley (c. 1834). The poem was translated in French by Alexis Paulin Paris, and in German by Adolf Böttger. A German translation by de, "An Babylons Wassern gefangen", was set by Carl Loewe (No. 2 of his Hebräische Gesänge, Op. 4, 1823). Another German translation was set by Ferruccio Busoni ("An Babylons Wassern wir weinten" in Zwei hebräische Melodien von Lord Byron, BV 202, 1884). Psalm 137 was the inspiration for the famous slave chorus "Va, pensiero" from Verdi's opera Nabucco (1842). Charles Valentin Alkan's piano piece Super flumina Babylonis: Paraphrase, Op. 52 (1859), is in the printed score preceded by a French translation of Psalm 137. Charles Gounod set "Près du fleuve étranger", a French paraphrase of the psalm, in 1861. In 1866 this setting was published with Henry Farnie's text version, as "By Babylon's wave: Psalm CXXXVII". In 1863, Gabriel Fauré wrote a Super Flumina Babylonis for mixed chorus and orchestra. Peter Cornelius based the music of his paraphrase of Psalm 137, "An Babels Wasserflüssen", Op. 13 No. 2 (1872), on the "Sarabande" of Bach's third English Suite. Czech composer Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) set verses 1–5 to music as No. 7 of his Biblical Songs (1894).

Pope Gregory X quoted Psalm 137 ("If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning") before departing from the Crusades upon his election by the papal conclave, 1268–1271. In his "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" speech, Frederick Douglass compared the Rochester Ladies' Anti Slavery Society asking him to deliver their Fourth of July speech to the actions of the antagonists asking the Jews to sing in a foreign land.