Psalm 129

New King James Version

Song of Victory over Zion’s Enemies

A Song of Ascents.

129 “Many a time they have ^(A)afflicted^[a] me from ^(B)my youth,”
^(C)Let Israel now say—
²“Many a time they have afflicted me from my youth;
Yet they have not prevailed against me.
³The plowers plowed on my back;
They made their furrows long.”
⁴The Lord is righteous;
He has cut in pieces the cords of the wicked.

⁵Let all those who hate Zion
Be put to shame and turned back.
⁶Let them be as the ^(D)grass on the housetops,
Which withers before it grows up,
⁷With which the reaper does not fill his hand,
Nor he who binds sheaves, his ^[b]arms.
⁸Neither let those who pass by them say,
^(E)“The blessing of the Lord be upon you;
We bless you in the name of the Lord!”

Footnotes

Psalm 129:1 persecuted
Psalm 129:7 armsful, lit. bosom

John 15:5-21

New King James Version

⁵“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much ^(A)fruit; for without Me you can do ^(B)nothing. ⁶If anyone does not abide in Me, ^(C)he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. ⁷If you abide in Me, and My words ^(D)abide in you, ^(E)you^[a] will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. ⁸^(F)By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; ^(G)so you will be My disciples.

Love and Joy Perfected

⁹“As the Father ^(H)loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. ¹⁰^(I)If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

¹¹“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and ^(J)that your joy may be full. ¹²^(K)This is My ^(L)commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³^(M)Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. ¹⁴^(N)You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. ¹⁵No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, ^(O)for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶^(P)You did not choose Me, but I chose you and ^(Q)appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father ^(R)in My name He may give you. ¹⁷These things I command you, that you love one another.

The World’s Hatred

¹⁸^(S)“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. ¹⁹^(T)If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet ^(U)because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. ²⁰Remember the word that I said to you, ^(V)‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. ^(W)If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. ²¹But ^(X)all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.