Song History
"Rivers of Babylon" is a spiritual song penned by the late Brent Dowe and Trevor McNaughton of the Melodians. It is based on the Biblical hymn Psalm 137 (from the King James Version). Psalm 137 is a hymn expressing the yearnings of the Jewish people in exile following the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem in 586 BC. The rivers of Babylon are the Euphrates river, its tributaries, and the Chebar river. The song also has words from Psalm 19:14.
NFTY, the youth group of the Union for Reform Judaism, uses the song in its songbook and sometimes even in youth group services.