Psalm 137

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Initial Ps. 136, St. Alban's Psalter

Psalm 137 ( Ps 137  EU , after counting the Septuagint and the Vulgate : Psalm 136 VUL , Latin initial words: Super flumina Babylonis ) is one of the best-known Biblical psalms . Its opening lines - "On the rivers of Babel ...", engl. "By the rivers of Babylon ..." - have become part of several successful pieces of music.

The psalm is a hymn that describes the longing of the Jewish people in Babylonian exile for their homeland. Jerusalem , the holy city of the Jews , was in 586 BC. Chr. By the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar II. Conquered and largely destroyed. The rivers of Babel are the Euphrates with its tributaries and the Chabur .

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The psalm describes the longing of the deported Jews for Jerusalem and Zion , where the temple of YHWH stood. If the introduction is written rather melancholy, the second part of the psalm shows hatred and God's expected vengeance on the slave drivers.

The psalm is generally attributed to the prophet Jeremiah . The Septuagint also contains the heading, "For David, by Jeremiah, in captivity."

The first four verses of the Psalm are very well known due to their multiple use in successful pieces of music.

“ 1 By the rivers of Babylon , we sat and wept when we thought of Zion . 2 We hung our harps on the willows in that land. 3 There the captives demanded songs from us, our tormentors demanded cheers: 'Sing us songs of Zion!' 4 How can we sing the songs of the Lord , far away, on a strange earth? "

- Ps 137 : 1-4  EU

The displaced are eager to return home and worship God on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. They want to rebuild the destroyed city and the temple of Solomon , which was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar II, the king of Babylon. This expulsion had been foretold for the Jewish people by many prophets for their unfaithfulness to God. On the front lines, Jeremiah fought to repent to God. At Jeremiah serious accusations are made against Judah: “From the north the calamity pours over all inhabitants of the land ... then I [God] will give my judgment on them and punish them ... because they leave me, sacrificed to other gods and the work have worshiped their own hands. ”( Jer 1,15–16  EU )“ Where are your gods that you made for yourself? Let them rise up if they can help you when you are in need. For as many as your cities, Judah , are your gods. "( Jer 2.28  EU )

Finally, Jeremiah announces the deportation to Babylon as punishment for their wrongdoing against the Lord: "This whole land will be a field of ruins and an image of horror, and these peoples will serve the King of Babylon for seventy years." ( Jer 25, 11  EU ) But in the very next sentence the prophet announces the return of the people of Israel and the harsh punishment of the Chaldeans . In anticipation of this vengeance of God, Psalm 137 continues with very sharp words and the threat of self-mutilation :

“ 5 If I ever forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand wither. 6 I want my tongue to stick to the roof of my mouth when I stop thinking of you, when I do not raise Jerusalem to my greatest joy. 7 Lord, do not forget the day of Jerusalem for the sons of Edom ; they said: 'Tear down, tear it down to the bottom!' 8 Daughter of Babylon, destroyer! Happy those who pay you back for what you have done to us! 9 Happy to him who grabs your children and smashes them on the rock! "

- Ps 137,5-9  EU

The threats made appear to be driven by a strong hatred of the enslavers, but it is said that many Jews in Babylon were not doing so badly and that they even reached high offices in the Babylonian state apparatus. This honor was bestowed on the prophet Daniel ( Dan 1  EU ). After 539 BC After conquering the Babylonian Empire , Cyrus II , king of Persia , allowed the displaced peoples to return to their homeland.

To what extent the prophecy of the destruction of Babylon came true is controversial today. What is certain is that the city was built after the 5th century BC. BC no longer played a role in world politics and fell apart more and more.

History of impact in the liturgy

In the Orthodox and Eastern Churches that use the Byzantine Rite , Psalm 137 (136 according to the Greek count) is read every Friday at morning mass, except in the Easter octave .

In the Roman Catholic Church the psalm is part of the Liturgy of the Hours . However, since it does not belong to the so-called festival psalms, it is seldom performed in normal church services.

In Judaism, Psalm 137 is sung on working days - that is, neither on Shabbat nor on public holidays - before grace, called "Birkat Hamason".

History of impact in music

Eduard Bendemann : The Mourning Jews in Exile (1832)
Ferdinand Olivier : The Jews in Babylonian Captivity (around 1838)
Eugène Delacroix : cycle in the library of the Palais Bourbon (Paris)

The psalm has been set to music by composers over the centuries:

  • The chorale An Wasserflüssen Babylon by Wolfgang Dachstein , written in 1525, was important in the German-speaking world .
  • Heinrich Schütz set the Psalm 1619 to music in a double chorale An den Wassern zu Babel , SWV 37.
  • In the English-speaking world there are numerous versions of By the waters / rivers of Babylon . Often the second part or at least the last verse of the psalm is left out. John L. Bell , a Scottish songwriter, comments on his own interpretation of the 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. "
  • Gabriel Fauré set Super flumina Babylonis to music as a contribution to the Prix ​​de Rome 1863 for choir and orchestra.
  • In the oratorio Belshazzar's Feast by William Walton , the opening sequence is sung by Israelite prisoners in Babylon.
  • The psalm was the inspiration for the famous slave choir Va, pensiero in Giuseppe Verdi's opera Nabucco .
  • The pop song By the Waters of Babylon from Don McLean's album American Pie is based on the text of Psalm 137. This song is an adaptation of a canon by Philip Hayes (1738-1797).
  • Brent Dowe and Trevor McNaughton of The Melodians wrote Rivers of Babylon to Jamaican music . The version was developed by Boney M gecovert and was in many countries long at number one of the charts. The text of the evergreen consists of the first four verses of the psalm, which deals with the Babylonian exile of the Jews . The German version of the same song - Die Legende von Babylon , sung by Bruce Low - provides a version of the story in which the legend of the Tower of Babel is told, which can be found in the Bible in Genesis 11: 1-9  EU and is round Is said to have taken place 1000 years before the Babylonian exile.
  • In 1999 the rock group Sublime produced a cover version of the piece on the album of the same name.
  • The psalm is in the Broadway - Musical Godspell as On the Willows (dt. At the Willows ) carried forward.
  • Matisyahu uses verses 5 and 6 in his song Jerusalem.
  • Harry Partch used the text in a piece of the same name composed by himself.
  • John Williams prefixed the first movement of his harp concerto On Willows and Birches, which premiered on September 23, 2009, with a quote from Psalm 137: “We hanged our harps upon the willows…”.
  • Ludger Stühlmeyer , composed a fantasy for organ “Super flumina Babylonis” in 2019, based on a watercolor by Paul Klee [An den Wassern zu Babel, 1918].

History of impact in literature

  • Psalm 137 gave Stephen Vincent Benét's short story By the Waters of Babylon the name.
  • Luís de Camões , a 16th century Portuguese poet, based one of his often-quoted songs, Sobre os Rios que Vão , on this psalm.
  • TS Eliot also refers to the psalm in his poem Das Wüsten Land . In the third chapter, The Fire Sermon , he writes: "By the water of Leman I sat down and wept ..."
  • Heinrich Heine's collection of poems Romanzero , published in 1851, deals intensively with the question of Jewish identity. The poem Jehuda ben Halevy plays purposefully with the tradition in which Psalm 137 stands.

literature

  • Frank-Lothar Hossfeld , Erich Zenger : Psalms. Psalm 101-150 . Herder, Freiburg / Basel / Vienna 2008 ( Herder's Theological Commentary on the Old Testament ), ISBN 978-3-451-26827-4 .
  • Susan Gillingham, The Reception of Psalm 137 in Jewish and Christian Traditions, in: dies. (Ed.), Jewish and Christian approaches to the Psalms: conflict and convergence. Oxford 2013, 64-82.
  • Jonathan Magonet, Psalm 137: Unlikely Liturgy or Partisan Poem? A Response to Sue Gillingham in: Jewish and Christian approaches to the Psalms 83-88.

Web links

Commons : Psalm 137  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Chebar . In: Easton's Bible Dictionary . Dictionary.com, 1897 (Retrieved March 9, 2008).
  2. ↑ James L. Kugel: Psalm 137 . In: In Potiphar's House . Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1994.
  3. ^ The Psalter According to the Seventy . Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Boston, MA, 1974 (2nd edition 1987), ISBN 0-943405-00-9 , p. 241.
  4. ^ John L. Bell : Psalms of Patience, Protest and Praise . Wild Goose Publications, 1993, ISBN 0 947 988 56 4 . Translation: “The last verse has been left out in this setting because its apparently monstrous curse should better be dealt with in a sermon or in a group lesson. This should not be forgotten, especially by those who have never been exiled, dispossessed or looted. "