4th Sunday of Lent, Year B (March 18, 2012) Responsorial Psalm

[E_7]

Listen here

4th Sunday of Lent, Year B, Responsorial Psalm
R. (6ab) Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
Ps. 137:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
By the streams of Babylon
we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.
On the aspens of that land
we hung up our harps.
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
For there our captors asked of us
the lyrics of our songs,
And our despoilers urged us to be joyous:
“Sing for us the songs of Zion!”
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
How could we sing a song of the LORD
in a foreign land?
If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand be forgotten!
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
May my tongue cleave to my palate
if I remember you not,
If I place not Jerusalem
ahead of my joy.
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!

 

[E_7]

this psalm really touched my soul when I heard it in Mass.

 

[DaveBj]

This psalm also occurs in the Liturgy of the Hours. For some reason ( ) the last three verses are always left off.

In the original, seconds after the singer sang the parts that we heard this morning, the same voice was singing (from the NAB):

Remember, Lord, against Edom that day at Jerusalem:
They said, “Level it, level it, down to its foundations!”
Fair Babylon, you destroyer, happy those who pay you back the evil you have done us!
Happy those who seize your children and smash them against a rock.

 

[E_7]

This psalm also occurs in the Liturgy of the Hours. For some reason ( ) the last three verses are always left off.

In the original, seconds after the singer sang the parts that we heard this morning, the same voice was singing (from the NAB):

Remember, Lord, against Edom that day at Jerusalem:
They said, “Level it, level it, down to its foundations!”
Fair Babylon, you destroyer, happy those who pay you back the evil you have done us!
Happy those who seize your children and smash them against a rock.

Yes, very true. If you don’t say it, I wouldn’t know. I looked at my Bible (mine is Spanish) and yes, it says:
Señor, no te olvides de lo que decían los edomitas
el día en que cayó Jerusalén: “arrásenla, arrásenla hasta los cimientos”.
Babilonia, ciudad criminal, dichoso el que te pague el mal que nos
has hecho, dichoso el que agarre a tus hijos y los estrelle contra la roca.
This part is really important.

Thank You

 

[Joe_Kelley]

This psalm also occurs in the Liturgy of the Hours. For some reason ( ) the last three verses are always left off.
…

There seems to have be an effort to excise the imprecatory passages from Scripture these days.

 

[DaveBj]

There seems to have be an effort to excise the imprecatory passages from Scripture these days.

Yah, I would say. Not to mention those verses that depict God as violent. Here’s another Psalm that shows up in the LOTH on Sunday evenings, the 110th (from the RSV):

Ps 110

1. The LORD says to my lord:
   “Sit at my right hand,till I make your enemies your footstool.”
2. The LORD sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter.
   Rule in the midst of your foes!
3. Your people will offer themselves freely on the day you lead your host upon the holy mountains.
   From the womb of the morning like dew your youth will come to you.
4. The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind,
   “You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchiz’edek.”
5. The Lord is at your right hand;
   he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
6. He will execute judgment among the nations,
   filling them with corpses;he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth.
7. He will drink from the brook by the way;
   therefore he will lift up his head.

The verse in red is omitted from the LOTH. And that last verse – I’ve never been able to figure out that that meant!