Repertoire

Psalm 137

Original Text

English Translation

Al naharot Bavel
sham yashavnu gam bachinu
bezochrenu et Tsiyon.

Al aravim betochah
talinu kinoroteinu.

Ki sham she'elnunu
shoveinu divrei shir
vetolaleinu simcha
shiru lanu mishir Tsiyon.

Ech nashir et shir Adonai
al admat nechar.

Im eshkachech Yerushalayim
tishkach yemini.

Tidbak l'shoni l'chiki
im lo ezkerechi
im lo a'aleh et Yerushalayim
al rosh simchati.

Zechor Adonai livnei Edom
et yom Yerushalayim
ha'omerim aru aru
ad hay'sod ba.

Bat Bavel hashedudah
ashrei sheyeshalem lach
et gemulech
shegamalt lanu.

Ashrei sheyochez venipets
et olalayich el hasala.

By the rivers of Babylon,
there we sat, sat and wept,
as we thought of Zion.

There on the poplars
we hung up our lyres,

for our captors
asked us there for songs,
our tormentors, for amusement,
"Sing us one of the songs of Zion."

How can we sing a song of the Lord
on alien soil?

I I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand wither;

let my tongue stick to my palate
if I cease to think of you,
if I do not keep Jerusalem in memory even
at my happiest hour.

Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites
the day of Jerusalem’s fall;
how they cried, "Strip her, strip her
to her very foundations!"

Fair Babylon, you predator,
a blessing on him
who repays you in kind what you have
inflicted on us;

a blessing on him who seizes your babies
and dashes them against the stones!

Hebrew text of Psalm 137

This piece was performed by the SFBC in Songs of Salamon Rossi: Works in Hebrew for Multiple Choirs on October 17, 1998.