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Sunday 31 October 2021

Psalms 137

This is an experimental post to see how much I can get from my database without significant intervention. I hope to be producing a series of e-books using this automated method of revealing the text. It may be that I can eventually cover every section of the Hebrew Bible with one of these 'quartets' (4-fold view of each verse and its observable characteristics.)

The sections will be in this sequence: 
  1. The music for the first verse.
  2. A heading derived from the roots recurring for the first time and various statistics. To this I will manually add significant links to performances and manuscripts.
  3. The roots that occur in the chapter and their frequency. The links are not functional here though they could be - just go to the concordance. Each section will include a full concordance for all its words.
  4. The meat: verse by verse: Hebrew, an English guide, SimHebrew, and an automated parsing of the morphology (reader beware!)
  5. Notes by verse.
  6. First time recurrence and a cross-tab for those roots if there are any.
  7. The full score.
You can see a sample in an e-book form here. All the links work in the e-book. This example shows the value of SimHebrew - utter ease of searching in the e-book - vast improvement in speed of learning Hebrew word structure - vast improvement in learning to read fluently. This is an unparalleled change in the teaching of Hebrew, making an accurate reading of the whole corpus of the native tongues of the Bible far more approachable by a reader trained in the Latin alphabet. You can find the SimHebrew Bible here.

As far as significant links for this psalm are concerned - don't miss this lecture on Psalms 137 by Susan Gillingham from Feb 11 2020 at the Pontifical Biblical Institute

Babel, expose
Syllables: 181. Words: 84. Roots: 54. Root Recurrence: 56%. Average per verse: 5.2.
adm advm akz aic al am (3) amr awr (2) at (6) b bbl (2) bch bn bt gm gml (2) dbq dbr zcr (3) kc ihvh (2) ivm ill imn isd irvwlm (3) iwb ci cnr l (3) la (2) lwvn nhr ncr npx sly yd yvll yl (4) ylh yrb yrh (2) xivn (2) raw wal wbh wdd wir (5) wck (2) wlm wm (2) wmk (2) tvc tlh
עַ֥ל נַהֲר֨וֹת ׀ בָּבֶ֗ל שָׁ֣ם יָ֭שַׁבְנוּ גַּם־בָּכִ֑ינוּ
בְּ֝זָכְרֵ֗נוּ אֶת־צִיּֽוֹן
1 ♪f By the rivers of Babel - there we sat, yea we wept,
when we remembered Zion.
a yl nhrot bbl wm iwbnu gm-bcinu
bzocrnu at-xion
14
7
yl nhr\vt bbl wm iwb\nv gm bc\inv
b/zcr\nv at xivn
עַֽל־עֲרָבִ֥ים בְּתוֹכָ֑הּ
תָּ֝לִ֗ינוּ כִּנֹּרוֹתֵֽינוּ
2 On willows in the midst of her,
we hung our harps.
b yl-yrbim btoch
tlinu cinorotinu
7
8
yl yrb\im b/tvc\h
tl\inv cnr\vtinv
כִּ֤י שָׁ֨ם שְֽׁאֵל֪וּנוּ שׁוֹבֵ֡ינוּ דִּבְרֵי־שִׁ֭יר וְתוֹלָלֵ֣ינוּ שִׂמְחָ֑ה
שִׁ֥ירוּ לָ֝֗נוּ מִשִּׁ֥יר צִיּֽוֹן
3 ♪C For there our captors asked us the words of a song, and our tormentors mirth.
"Sing to us a song of Zion."
g ci wm walunu wobinu dbri-wir vtollinu wmkh
wiru lnu mwir xion
19
8
ci wm wal\vnv wvb\inv dbr\i wir vtv/ll\inv wmk\h
wir\v l\nv m/wir xivn
אֵ֗יךְ נָשִׁ֥יר אֶת־שִׁיר־יְהוָ֑ה
עַ֝֗ל אַדְמַ֥ת נֵכָֽר
4 ♪~ How will we sing such a song of Yahweh,
on alien ground?

d aiç nwir at-wir-ihvh
yl admt ncr
7
5
aic n/wir at wir ihvh
yl adm\t ncr
אִֽם־אֶשְׁכָּחֵ֥ךְ יְֽרוּשָׁלִָ֗ם תִּשְׁכַּ֥ח יְמִינִֽי 5 If I forget you Jerusalem, let my right hand forget.
h am-awckç iruwlim twck imini 13
am a/wck\c irvwlm t/wck imn\i
תִּדְבַּ֥ק־לְשׁוֹנִ֨י ׀ לְחִכִּי֮ אִם־לֹ֪א אֶ֫זְכְּרֵ֥כִי
אִם־לֹ֣א אַ֭עֲלֶה אֶת־יְרוּשָׁלִַ֑ם
עַ֝֗ל רֹ֣אשׁ שִׂמְחָתִֽי
6 Let my tongue cleave to my palate, if I do not remember you,
if I do not offer you up, Jerusalem,
over my ultimate mirth.

v tdbq-lwoni lkici am-la azcrci
am-la aylh at-iruwlim
yl raw wmkti
14
10
5
t/dbq lwvn\i l/kc\i am la a/zcr\ci
am la a/ylh at irvwlm
yl raw wmk\ti
זְכֹ֤ר יְהוָ֨ה ׀ לִבְנֵ֬י אֱד֗וֹם אֵת֮ י֤וֹם יְֽרוּשָׁ֫לִָ֥ם
הָ֭אֹ֣מְרִים עָ֤רוּ ׀ עָ֑רוּ
עַ֝֗ד הַיְס֥וֹד בָּֽהּ
7 Remember Yahweh of the children of Edom, in the day of Jerusalem,
those saying, Expose, expose,
to her foundations.
z zcor ihvh lbni adom at iom iruwlim
haomrim yru yru
yd hisod bh
14
7
4
zcr ihvh l/bn\i advm at ivm irvwlm
h/amr\im yr\v yr\v
yd h/isd b\h
בַּת־בָּבֶ֗ל הַשְּׁד֫וּדָ֥ה
אַשְׁרֵ֥י שֶׁיְשַׁלֶּם־לָ֑ךְ
אֶת־גְּ֝מוּלֵ֗ךְ שֶׁגָּמַ֥לְתְּ לָֽנוּ
8 Devastating daughter of Babel,
happy the one who makes peace with you,
even rewards you as you rewarded us.
k bt-bbl hwdudh
awri wiwlm-lç
at-gmulç wgmlt lnu
6
6
10
bt bbl h/wdvd\h
awr\i wi/wlm l\c
at gmvl\c w/gml\t l\nv
אַשְׁרֵ֤י ׀ שֶׁיֹּאחֵ֓ז וְנִפֵּ֬ץ אֶֽת־עֹ֝לָלַ֗יִךְ אֶל־הַסָּֽלַע 9 Happy the one who grasps and smashes your babies on the cliff.
't awri wiakz vnipx at-yolliiç al-hsly 17
awr\i wi/akz v/npx at yll\ic al h/sly
1The first four verses are first person plural. Note the frequency of the letter pair suffix, nu.
2The words in verse 2 set the scene. Only the common preposition, the first word, yl, occurs more than once in the psalm.
5Verses 5 and 6 are first person singular.
6ultimate, ראשׁ (raw), or head, top, beginning, chief. By using ultimate here, I have created an artificial hapax.
8the one who, interpreting the relative use of the letter shin, also in v 9.
rewards (gml) in the sense of payback. See also Psalm 131 where the root indicates a nursing child on the mother's back.
9The second person (plural imperative or corporate singular) is repeated in verses 7 to 9. The only other use of smash (npx) in the Psalms is in Psalm 2.
First time recurrence: bbl yrh
Word / Gloss12VsStem
בבל Babel
1בבל
ערו expose
7ערה
ערו expose
7ערה
בבל Babel
8בבל

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