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A song for going up to worship.

129 “From the time I was young, people have attacked me …”
(Israel should repeat this.)
“From the time I was young, people have attacked me,
but they have never overpowered me.
They have plowed my back ⌞like farmers plow fields⌟.
They made long slashes ⌞like furrows⌟.”
The Lord is righteous.
He has cut me loose
from the ropes that wicked people tied around me.
Put to shame all those who hate Zion.
Force them to retreat.
Make them be like grass on a roof,
like grass that dries up before it produces a stalk.
It will never fill the barns of those who harvest
or the arms of those who gather bundles.
Those who pass by will never say ⌞to them⌟,
“May you be blessed by the Lord
or “We bless you in the name of the Lord.”

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.”

129 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say:

Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me.

The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows.

The Lord is righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.

Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion.

Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up:

Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom.

Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we bless you in the name of the Lord.