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 ChristianOld 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".[1] 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.
Text
Hebrew
The following table shows the Hebrew text[2][3] of the Psalm with vowels alongside an English translation based upon the JPS 1917 translation (now in the public domain).
King James Version
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.
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.
How shall we sing the LORD's song in a strange land?
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.
If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.
Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.
O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.
Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.
Context and content
The journey of the Judean exiles to Babylon in the first decades of the 6th century BC.
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,[4] and the Septuagint version of the psalm bears the superscription: "For David. By Jeremias, in the Captivity."[5]
Verses 1–4
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.
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.[6]
Verses 5–6
In verses 5–6 the speaker turns into self-exhortation to remember Jerusalem:
Verses 7–9
The psalm ends with prophetic predictions of violent revenge.
Liturgical uses
Yochanan ben Zakai Synagogue Wall PaintingPsalm 137 (136) in the St. Albans Psalter, 12th century
Judaism
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.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed] Verse 7 is found in the repetition of the Amidah on Rosh Hashanah.[8][full citation needed]
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.[14] 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.[citation needed]
Dachstein's "An Wasserflüssen Babylon" in a 1541 edition of the Straßburger Gesangbuch (Strasbourg Hymnal)Early version of Bach's An Wasserflüssen Babylonchorale prelude, BWV 653Psalm 137 set to music in a French Protestant psalm book of 1817By the rivers of Babylon, painting by Eduard Bendemann, c. 1832By the Waters of Babylon, painting by Arthur Hacker, c. 1888By the rivers of Babylon, painting by Gebhard Fugel, c. 1920
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."[17]
The first composition in Eustache Du Caurroy's Meslanges de la musique, published in 1610, a year after the composer's death, is "Le long des eaux, ou se bagne", a six-part setting of Gilles Durant de la Bergerie's paraphrase of Psalm 137.[36][37][38]Salamone Rossi (1570–1630) set the psalm in Hebrew (עַל נַהֲרוֹת בָּבֶל, Al naharot Bavel) for four parts.[39]Matthew Locke's Super flumina Babylonis motet is an extended setting of the first nine verses of the psalm.[40][41] The psalm's first two verses were used for a musical setting in a round by English composer Philip Hayes.[42]William Billings adapted the text to describe the British occupation of Boston in his anthem "Lamentation over Boston".[43][44]
Artemy Vedel composed two choral concertos based on the psalm in Ukrainian, Na rekakh Vavilonskikh.[45]
Psalm 137 was the inspiration for the famous slave chorus "Va, pensiero" from Verdi's opera Nabucco (1842).[48]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.[49][50]Charles Gounod set "Près du fleuve étranger", a French paraphrase of the psalm, in 1861.[51][52] In 1866 this setting was published with Henry Farnie's text version, as "By Babylon's wave: Psalm CXXXVII".[53][54]
In 1863, Gabriel Fauré wrote a Super Flumina Babylonis for mixed chorus and orchestra.[citation needed]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.[55][56] Czech composer Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) set verses 1–5 to music as No. 7 of his Biblical Songs (1894).[57][58]
20th and 21st centuries
20th and 21st-century settings based on, or referring to, Psalm 137 include:
In William Walton's Belshazzar's Feast, a 1931 cantata, a version of the opening section is set to music, as if sung by the Israelite captives in Babylon.[60]
The second of the Two Psalms by Harry Partch (1901–1974) is "By the Rivers of Babylon", which he recorded in 1942 in a version for voice, chromelodeon and adapted viola.[61]
An English setting ("By the Rivers of Babylon") by David Amram (b. 1930), for solo soprano and SSAA choir (1969).[62][63][64][relevant?]
The psalm was set, as On the Willows, in the Stephen Schwartz Broadway musical Godspell (1971).[66]
Don McLean covered Hayes's round as "Babylon", which was the final track on his 1971 album American Pie. Another cover of the round was featured at the end of the episode "Babylon" during the first season of Mad Men.[67]
Estonian composer Arvo Pärt composed An den Wassern zu Babel saßen wir und weinten in 1976 (revised 1984).[68]
Psalm 137:1–4 is the basis for "By These Rivers" for solo recorder (2022) by Gilad Hochman.[74]
Song published by Joshua Aaron (23 April 2018). Joshua Aaron - Bring Us Back (By The Rivers of Babylon) Psalm 137. Retrieved 23 May 2024 – via YouTube.[75]
The Portuguese 16th century poet Luís de Camões's poem Sôbolos rios que vão por Babilónia is based on Psalm 137.
Welsh poet Evan Evans' work "A Paraphrase of Psalm CXXXVII" is a direct answer to Psalm 137 and parallels the plight of the Welsh bards with that of the Jews in the psalm.[citation needed]
Phrases from the psalm have been referenced in numerous works, including:
In the third stanza, The Fire Sermon, of T. S. Eliot's 1922 poem The Waste Land line 182 is: 'By the waters of Leman I sat down and wept...'. Leman is both the French for Lake Geneva and an archaic word for "mistress".[76]
Leonard Cohen makes several references to the psalm in the song and poem By the Rivers Dark which appears on his 2001 album Ten New Songs, and in his 2006 poetry collection Book of Longing.
In Book X, Chapter 7 of The Brothers Karamazov, Captain Snegiryov quotes verses 5 and 6.
In the 2010 video game Fallout New Vegas, in the Honest Hearts DLC, Joshua Graham quotes Psalm 137, likening the Babylonian captivity of the Jews to the White Legs' war with two other tribes, the Dead Horses and the Sorrows.<refpp>Joshua Graham Psalm 137, retrieved 28 December 2023</ref>
In the 2021 debut of the comic, "King Spawn", writer Sean Lewis and Spawn creator Todd McFarlane introduce a cult called "Psalm 137" which initiates a terrorist campaign targeting children.[77]
Historical instances of use
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.
^James L. Kugel, "Psalm 137", in In Potiphar's House: The Interpretive Life of Biblical Texts, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994)
^Translated from the Greek Septuagint by the Holy Transfiguration Monastery. (1974). The Psalter According to the Seventy. Vol. 1987, second printing. Boston MA: Holy Transfiguration Monastery. p. 241. ISBN 0-943405-00-9.
^Benson, J., Benson Commentary Archived 30 January 2018 at the Wayback Machine on Psalm 137, accessed 23 June 2022
^Marc Girard (May 2006), Faut-il prier au complet le psaume 136 (137)? Archived 5 December 2020 at the Wayback Machine(in French) at www.spiritualite2000.com (website of the Dominican Order of Canada)
^"The Psalter". 9 December 2013. Archived from the original on 5 December 2020. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
^Leahy, Anne (2011), J. S. Bach's "Leipzig" Chorale Preludes: Music, Text, Theology, Scarecrow Press, p. 37, ISBN 978-0810881815
^Bell, John L. (1993). Psalms of Patience, Protest and Praise. Wild Goose Publications. ISBN 0-947988-56-4.
^ a bTerry, Charles Sanford. "Bach's Chorals. Part III: The Hymns and Hymn Melodies of the Organ Works". oll.libertyfund.org. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
^Matthew Locke: Anthems, Motets and Ceremonial Music Archived 30 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine at Hyperion website.
^The Muses Delight: Catches, Glees, Canzonets and Canons by Philip Hayes (London, 1786)
^Stowe 2016, pp. 68–74.
^Stowe (2012). "Babylon Revisited: Psalm 137 as American Protest Song". Black Music Research Journal. 32 (1): 95–112. doi:10.5406/blacmusiresej.32.1.0095. JSTOR 10.5406/blacmusiresej.32.1.0095. S2CID 154371943.
^3 "Vedel, Artemy". Orthodox Sacred Music Reference Library. p. 2. Retrieved 25 February 2023. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
^We sat down and wept by the waters Archived 27 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine, We sat down and wept by the waters / An den Wassern zu Babel Archived 5 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine and Zwei hebräische Melodien von Lord Byron für eine Singstimme mit Klavierbegleitung at LiederNet website.
^Loewe-Album (Loewe, Carl), Lyrische Fantasien, Alledorien, Hymnen und Gesänge. Hebräische Gesänge (Loewe, Carl), 2 Lieder, Op.15, BV 202 (Busoni, Ferruccio): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
^Cullen Schippe; Chuck Stetson (2006). The Bible and Its Influence. BLP Publishing. pp. 176–. ISBN 978-0-9770302-0-0.
^Robert Rimm (2002). The Composer-pianists: Hamelin and The Eight. Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 300–. ISBN 978-1-57467-072-1.
^James Laster; Diana Reed Strommen (2003). Catalogue of Vocal Solos and Duets Arranged in Biblical Order. Scarecrow Press. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-8108-4838-2.
^Biblical Songs Archived 4 May 2020 at the Wayback Machine at www.antonin-dvorak.cz
^Leytens, Luc. "Van Nuffel, Jules, Biografie". Studiecentrum voor Vlaamse Muziek. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
^S. Andrew Granade (2014). Harry Partch, Hobo Composer. Boydell & Brewer. pp. 225–. ISBN 978-1-58046-495-6.
^James H. Laster (11 June 1996). Catalogue of Choral Music Arranged in Biblical Order. Scarecrow Press. p. 625. ISBN 978-1-4617-2664-7.
^David Amran (1969). By the rivers of Babylon: women's chorus (SSAA) a cappella and soprano solo. Archived 12 December 2022 at the Wayback MachineC. F. Peters
^Music: the AGO & RCCO Magazine, Vol. 3 (1969) Archived 12 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine, page 28.
^Stowe 2016, pp. 51–56, 205.
^Paul R. Laird (10 April 2014). The Musical Theater of Stephen Schwartz: From Godspell to Wicked and Beyond. Scarecrow Press. pp. 38–. ISBN 978-0-8108-9192-0.
^Stowe 2016, pp. 56–.
^Andrew Shenton (10 May 2018). Arvo Pärt's Resonant Texts: Choral and Organ Music 1956–2015. Cambridge University Press. pp. 54–. ISBN 978-1-107-08245-8.
^Music and Musicians. 1981. p. 45.
^Jeff Burger (1 April 2014). Leonard Cohen on Leonard Cohen: Interviews and Encounters. Chicago Review Press. pp. 491–. ISBN 978-1-61374-758-2.
^Siobhán Dowling Long; John F. A. Sawyer (3 September 2015). The Bible in Music: A Dictionary of Songs, Works, and More. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-8108-8452-6.
^information and recording Archived 5 September 2022 at the Wayback Machine at the composer's official website.
^Joshua Aaron (23 April 2018). Joshua Aaron - Bring Us Back (By The Rivers of Babylon) Psalm 137. Retrieved 23 May 2024 – via YouTube.
^Lewis, Sean. King Spawn #1. IMAGE COMICS, Portland, OR, Aug. 25, 2021.
^"Frederick Douglass Project: 5th of July Speech | RBSCP". rbscp.lib.rochester.edu.
Bibliography
Buelow, George J. (2004). A History of Baroque Music. Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253343659.
Matut, Diana (2011). Dichtung und Musik im frühneuzeitlichen Aschkenas: Ms. opp. add. 4° 136 der Bodleian Library, Oxford (das so genannte Wallich-Manuskript) und Ms. hebr. oct. 219 der Stadt- und Universitätsbibliothek, Frankfurt a. M. [Poetry and Music in Ashkenazi culture of the early modern period: Ms. opp. add. 4° 136 of the Bodleian Library, Oxford (the so-called Wallich Manuscript) and Ms. hebr. oct. 219 of the Frankfurt City and University Library]. Studies in Jewish History and Culture (in German). Vol. 29. Brill. ISBN 9789004181946.