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I have no knowledge of Hebrew language. When it comes to exclamations such as O Lord, O God, O Jerusalim etc., different english versions seem to vary.

In Ps 137:5, some versions say 'O Jerusalim' (ESV, NASB, KJV, NET), and some others just 'Jerusalim' (NIV 2011). This pattern appears in many parts of Psalms.

Since I am translating the psalms as a poem as much as I can dabble with, rhyming is important. And little things such as exclamation can either break or make rhyming.

Here: http://biblos.com/psalms/137-5.htm here I click "Hebrew" button. And there I don't see an exclamation as separate as in english. But is there some dot, stroke, any slight font mark that represents the exclamation "O"? Some hard fact?

Or is it rather the emotion or some subjective character of the original hebrew that makes english version have this "O", so that it depends on translators' preference/mood?

The O is not in the Hebrew. It's just an old fashioned way to indicate a term of address. You are free to add or skip the O any time someone speaks to God or another person by name. Modern translations don't use it because we don't talk that way any more. But some churches may still use that type of language in prayer. So if it helps your poetry, go ahead and use it, O baagii. But it might sound quaint.

Booker is right, the "o" is just in the text for stylistic purposes.

On a different note:

Ps. 137 is one of the more important Psalms to the Jewish people. It is recited at the evening meal every day except on the Sabbath and it is frequently sung. For the Jewish people this Psalm connects them with their ancient past. This can be seen most dramatically in the videos by Meydad tasa and Gad Elbaz; the theme can be recognized even by those who do not speak Hebrew.

Here are a few examples where this Psalm is sung word for word as it is written in Scripture:

meydad tasa - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhUAWf6jlek

Eshet Chayil (woman of Valor) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRalPTCjLtk
*Note: most looking at this video would probably not guess that these were the words of Ps. 137

Dikla - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-kNp519EdM
*Note: one of my favorite versions


These ones are not word for word from the Psalm but they are also based on the Psalm

Gad Elbaz - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9GDabnkeDI
*Note: This one begins with the words from Ps. 137 but the chorus is is a little bit free. It is a very dramatic video.


Barefoot Truth and Naia Kete - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhuLGsajp-o
*Note: Country'ish and IN ENGLISH

While not related to Ps. 137, I thought this video would highlight the contrast between what a video by Eshet Chayil looks like and what the words really say; it is even more dramatic a contrast than the rendition of Ps. 137 in the prior post.

Who would ever guess after watching this video that the translation below was a translation of the Lyrics to this song????

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJi1ZCMk40c



We will not be ashamed, and we will not be disappointed,
and we will not stumble forever and ever.
Brighten our eyes in your Law,
Bind our hearts in your commandments,
Unite our hearts to love and to fear your name.

I'm born in communist country where German based disco band, originally from Jamaica, Boney M was hit around 80's. They were a hit in Soviet union and thus the whole communist bloc. Their "rivers of Babylon" was famous: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGyfxOCYvtM

My aunts and their classmates used to listen their music a lot.

O what a liberating answer.

Those words like O Lord, O Jerusalim happen many times in the begining or end of lines where phonetic rhyming goes. So it was important for me to ask it.

Some times I wondered connection words like "but", "however", "lo" seem to be translated in english psalm quite arbitraryly between different versions.

Specially "lo" (behold), is in many cases out in NIV. What you do you think about it?

'Behold' is the word hinneh in Hebrew. It's a way to call attention to something, but it's not really the way we talk today. I think modern translations try to find some way to call your attention to the same things, or establish emphasis in some other way.

As for all the but's and and's and however's, Hebrew likes to put va ('and') in between just about every phrase and sentence. Sometimes it's a little more adversative, a little more like a 'but.' Sometimes 'so' or 'then' fits best. But the fact is that English just doesn't like having so many connectives between every single sentence. So sometimes it's better just to skip the va.

"O what a liberating answer."
Not to nitpick, but there's a difference between O and Oh. Oh is the exclamation. O is an address. And even when O is used without a name or title, like in "O give thanks unto the Lord," the o is not an exclamation; it might be an attempt to show that these words are a prayer, addressed to God, or it might be addressed to our fellow worshipers as in "O people, give thanks."

Thank you for showing difference between O and Oh and shedding light on "Behold"



Unless modern people use 'Lo' to put emphasis, putting 'lo' when translating, will seem to sound as a somewhat wooden language, IMHO.

So is "behold" an equivalent of modern day 'look' as in: John, look, you are in a serious situation blah blah...? I'm not sure how natural sounds replacing 'lo' with 'look' eveytime it happens. One example: ps 134. What do you people think?

Most of the time, hinneh is the equivalent of pointing at something or someone, even at yourself. But it can also be used to point to a fact, something you’ve just discovered, or something surprising, or a statement that will be the basis for making some conclusion or request. So your “John, look...” fits in the broader usage. Psalm 134 doesn’t really look like it fits any of the normal uses of hinneh. Maybe I’d translate it, “Hey, praise the Lord.” But that doesn’t quite have the dignity of “Behold!”
It’s translated behold, lo, look, attention, come, now, see, here, there, indeed, this, that, “here am I,” ... and it’s used over a thousand times, so, like all the extra “and”s it might be okay to just skip it in English once in a while.

I think it is also important to realize that Hebrew uses repetition far more frequently to indicate emphasis that it does specific emphatic words like hinneh. Unfortunately, often this emphasis doesn't translate well into English. A well know example is seen in English translations in the Is. 6 "holy, holy, holy" passage. A better translation of this might have been "extremely holy!!!" Doubling of words in Hebrew is an extremely common way to show emphasis and tripling of words is done on occasion to show extreme emphasis as in the Is. 6 passage or in Hos. 5:14 which literally says "I, I, I will tear." Translations of the latter don't convey well the emphasis of this phrase that in Hebrew stands out from the others phrases around it like a sore thumb.

The exclaimations of words like "O" are called vocatives and are either implied by the grammar or by the context. The Hebrew verbs such as the piel form emphasize an action as being intense which may imply a vocative. There are words added when translating from one language to another which is normal.

There really is no grammatical indication for "o", it is there only for style.

Note that while piel verbs often indicate emphasis, that is not always the case. For example the verb to speak is normally used in the piel but carries no sense of emphasis. In this verse the verb to forget isn't piel.

Just a side note about connecting words, like "but" or "however".

Once in a while, I read a bible in Spanish rather than English. The repertoire of connecting words in Spanish is different from the repertoire in English. The conjunctions are pretty much the same, but the prepositions convey somewhat different connections between a main concept and a subordinate concept.

It's clear to me the translators had to solve different problems when translating Greek or Hebrew into Spanish than when translating the same source into English.

With regard to Psalm 137:5 the word "oh" appears in the Reina Valera version. What's more interesting is a play on words that doesn't show up in the English. It says something like, "may my right hand lose its dexterity". But the word "diestra" for "right hand" and the word "destreza" for "dexterity" make a play on words that I just don't see reading it in English.

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Not all those who wander are lost.