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Psalm 129

A song for those journeying to worship.

This is not the first time my enemies assaulted me;
    they have often attacked me since I was young.”
So let Israel now proclaim,
This is not the first time my enemies assaulted me;
    they have attacked me since I was young,
    and yet they have not been able to overpower me.
The plowers plowed over me;
    they plowed their furrows deep and long down my back.”
The Eternal is just.
    He’s severed the bindings of the wicked so they can’t hurt me anymore.
May all who despise Zion
    hang their heads in shame.
    May all who despise Zion recoil and run away.
Let them grow like grass upon rooftops
    that withers and dies in the sun long before it has time to grow,
Unfit to be harvested by the worker,
    not worthy of the effort to carry off to the binder.
Unwanted, uncared for—no passersby to greet them, no one to say,
    “May the favor of the Eternal be upon you;
We bless you in His name.”

They Have Afflicted Me from My Youth

A Song of (A)Ascents.

129 “Greatly[a] have they (B)afflicted me (C)from my youth”—
    (D)let Israel now say—
“Greatly have they (E)afflicted me (F)from my youth,
    (G)yet they have not prevailed against me.
(H)The plowers plowed (I)upon my back;
    they made long their furrows.”
The Lord is righteous;
    he has cut (J)the cords of the wicked.
May all who hate Zion
    be (K)put to shame and turned backward!
Let them be like (L)the grass on the housetops,
    which (M)withers before it grows up,
with which the reaper does not fill his hand
    nor the binder of sheaves his arms,
nor do those who pass by say,
    (N)“The blessing of the Lord be upon you!
    We (O)bless you in the name of the Lord!”

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 129:1 Or Often; also verse 2