Psalm 129
New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
Psalm 129
Prayer for the Downfall of Israel’s Enemies
A Song of Ascents.
1 “Often have they attacked me from my youth”
—let Israel now say—
2 “often have they attacked me from my youth,
yet they have not prevailed against me.
3 The plowers plowed on my back;
they made their furrows long.”
4 The Lord is righteous;
he has cut the cords of the wicked.
5 May all who hate Zion
be put to shame and turned backward.
6 Let them be like the grass on the housetops
that withers before it grows up,
7 with which reapers do not fill their hands
or binders of sheaves their arms,
8 while those who pass by do not say,
“The blessing of the Lord be upon you!
We bless you in the name of the Lord!”
Psalm 129
Authorized (King James) Version
Psalm 129
A Song of degrees.
1 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth,
may Israel now say:
2 many a time have they afflicted me from my youth:
yet they have not prevailed against me.
3 The plowers plowed upon my back:
they made long their furrows.
4 The Lord is righteous:
he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.
5 Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion.
6 Let them be as the grass upon the housetops,
which withereth afore it groweth up:
7 wherewith the mower filleth not his hand;
nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom.
8 Neither do they which go by say,
The blessing of the Lord be upon you:
we bless you in the name of the Lord.
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
KJV reproduced by permission of Cambridge University Press, the Crown’s patentee in the UK.