page_title: Psalm 137
section_title: Translations, versifications and settings
hierarchical_section_title: Psalm 137 / Translations, versifications and settings
caption_attribution_description: First page of Walther's P 802 manuscript of Johann Sebastian Bach's chorale prelude BWV 653b with two manuals and double pedal. This is a variant of BWV 653 from the Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes.
context_page_description: 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_section_description: 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."
caption: Early version of Bach's An Wasserflüssen Babylon chorale prelude, BWV 653
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