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Psalm 129

A pilgrimage song.

129 From youth, people have constantly attacked me—
    let Israel now repeat!—
    from youth people have constantly attacked me—
    but they haven’t beaten me!
They plowed my back like farmers;
    they made their furrows deep.
But the Lord is righteous—
    God cut me free from the ropes of the wicked!

Let everyone who hates Zion be ashamed, thoroughly frustrated.
    Let them be like grass on a roof
    that dies before it can be pulled up,
    which won’t fill the reaper’s hand
        or fill the harvester’s arms.
Let no one who passes by say to them:
    “May the Lord’s blessing be on you!
        We bless you in the Lord’s name!”

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—
“Many a time they have afflicted me from my youth;
Yet they have not prevailed against me.
The plowers plowed on my back;
They made their furrows long.”
The Lord is righteous;
He has cut in pieces the cords of the wicked.

Let all those who hate Zion
Be put to shame and turned back.
Let them be as the (D)grass on the housetops,
Which withers before it grows up,
With which the reaper does not fill his hand,
Nor he who binds sheaves, his [b]arms.
Neither 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

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

Psalm 129

A song of ascents.

“They have greatly oppressed(A) me from my youth,”(B)
    let Israel say;(C)
“they have greatly oppressed me from my youth,
    but they have not gained the victory(D) over me.
Plowmen have plowed my back
    and made their furrows long.
But the Lord is righteous;(E)
    he has cut me free(F) from the cords of the wicked.”(G)

May all who hate Zion(H)
    be turned back in shame.(I)
May they be like grass on the roof,(J)
    which withers(K) before it can grow;
a reaper cannot fill his hands with it,(L)
    nor one who gathers fill his arms.
May those who pass by not say to them,
    “The blessing of the Lord be on you;
    we bless you(M) in the name of the Lord.”