54 
RURAL HOURS. 
Two versions of the ISVtli Psalm have been given to the Christian 
world by the Church of England, and they differ in some minor 
points of the translations. That in the Psalter of the Prayer Book 
was one of the earliest works of the Reformation, taken from the 
Septuagint, in the time of Archbishop Cranmer. It does not 
name the tree on which the Israelites hung their harps. " By 
the waters of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered 
thee, 0 Sion. As for our harps, we hanged them up upon the 
trees that are therein. For they that led us away captive required 
of us then a song and melody in our heaviness. Sing us one of 
the songs of Sion." The translation in the Holy Bible, made 
later, from the original, approaches still nearer to the simple dig- 
nity of the Hebrew : "By the waters of Babylon there we sat 
down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged 
our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there, they 
that carried us away captive required of us a song ; and they that 
wasted us required of us mirth, saying. Sing us one of the songs 
of Zion." 
The two translations of this noble Psalm, also differ slightly 
in their last verses. In the Prayer Book, these verses stand as 
follows : " 0, daughter of Babylon, wasted with misery, yea, 
happy shall he be that rewardeth thee, as thou hast served us. 
Blessed shall he be that taketh thy children and dasheth them 
against the stones." The translation of the Holy Bible, by closer 
adherence to the original, in a single phrase becomes more di- 
rectly prophetic in character : " 0, daughter of Babylon, ^vho art 
to he destroyed {or wasted), happy shall he be that rewardeth 
thee, as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be that taketh 
and dasheth thy little ones against tlie stones." 
