Psalm 129
New Living Translation
Psalm 129
A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.
1 From my earliest youth my enemies have persecuted me.
Let all Israel repeat this:
2 From my earliest youth my enemies have persecuted me,
but they have never defeated me.
3 My back is covered with cuts,
as if a farmer had plowed long furrows.
4 But the Lord is good;
he has cut me free from the ropes of the ungodly.
5 May all who hate Jerusalem[a]
be turned back in shameful defeat.
6 May they be as useless as grass on a rooftop,
turning yellow when only half grown,
7 ignored by the harvester,
despised by the binder.
8 And may those who pass by
refuse to give them this blessing:
“The Lord bless you;
we bless you in the Lord’s name.”
Footnotes
- 129:5 Hebrew Zion.
Psalm 129
New Revised Standard Version Updated 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—(A)
2 often have they attacked me from my youth,
yet they have not prevailed against me.(B)
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.(C)
5 May all who hate Zion
be put to shame and turned backward.(D)
6 Let them be like the grass on the housetops
that withers before it grows up,(E)
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!”(F)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.