Psalm 137


Psalm 137 is the 137th psalm of the Book of Psalms, and as such it is included in the Hebrew Bible. In English it is generally known as "By the rivers of Babylon", which is how its first words are translated in the King James Version. It is Psalm 136 in the slightly different numbering system of the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate versions of the Bible. Its Latin title is "Super flumina Babylonis".
The psalm is a communal lament about being in exile after the Babylonian captivity, and yearning for Jerusalem. The psalm is a regular part of Jewish, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican and Protestant liturgies. It has been set to music often, and was paraphrased in hymns.

Context and content

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. 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."

Verses 1–4

The early lines of the psalm describe the sadness of the Israelites in exile, weeping and hanging their harps on trees. Asked to "sing the Lord's song in a strange land", they refuse.

Verses 5–6

In vv. 5–6 the speaker turns into self-exhortation to remember Jerusalem:

Verses 7–9

The psalm ends with prophetic predictions of violent revenge.

Uses

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.
Psalm 137 is traditionally recited before the Birkat Hamazon 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.

Eastern Christianity

In the Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches that use the Byzantine Rite, Psalm 137 is a part of the Nineteenth Kathisma and is read at Matins on Friday mornings throughout the year, except during Bright Week 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 after the Polyeleos on the three Sundays preceding the beginning of Great Lent.

Western Christianity

Following the rule of St. Benedict, the Roman Breviary adopted the "Super flumina Babylonis" psalm for Vespers on Wednesdays. In the Roman Missal, before the Vatican II reforms, the first verse of the psalm was the Offertory in the Mass on the 20th Sunday after Pentecost.
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.
After the Second Vatican Council, the last three verses of the psalm were removed from Catholic liturgical books because of their cruelty perceived to be incompatible with the gospel message. In the post-Vatican II three-year cycle of the Catholic mass liturgy, the psalm is part of the service on Laetare Sunday, that is the fourth Sunday in Lent, of the "B" cycle.
Similarly, the Prayer Book of the Anglican Church of Canada has also removed these verses.

Translations, versifications and settings

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."

16th to 18th century

Latin settings 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 and Michel-Richard Delalande.
Wolfgang Dachstein's "An Wasserflüssen Babylon", a German rhymed paraphrase and setting of the psalm, was first published in 1525. It was soon adopted as a Lutheran hymn, and appeared in publications such as the Becker Psalter. 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. 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.
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. Salamone Rossi set the psalm in Hebrew 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".

19th century

'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 and Samuel Sebastian Wesley. The poem was translated in French by Alexis Paulin Paris, and in German by Adolf Böttger. A German translation by, "An Babylons Wassern gefangen", was set by Carl Loewe. Another German translation was set by Ferruccio Busoni.
Psalm 137 was the inspiration for the famous slave chorus "Va, pensiero" from Giuseppe Verdi's opera Nabucco. Charles-Valentin Alkan's piano piece Super flumina Babylonis: Paraphrase, Op. 52, 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, on the "Sarabande" of Bach's third English Suite. Czech composer Antonín Dvořák set verses 1-5 to music as No. 7 of his Biblical Songs.

20th and 21st centuries

20th and 21st-century settings based on, or referring to, Psalm 137 include:
Phrases from the psalm have been referenced in numerous works, including: