Psalms 129

1 A song for pilgrims going up to Jerusalem. Many enemies have attacked from the time I was young. Let everyone in Israel say:

A Song of the going up. Great have been my troubles from the time when I was young (let Israel now say);

2 Many enemies have attacked from the time I was young, but they never defeated me.

Great have been my troubles from the time when I was young, but my troubles have not overcome me.

3 They beat me on my back, leaving long furrows as if it had been ploughed by a farmer.

The ploughmen were ploughing on my back; long were the wounds they made.

4 But the Lord does what is right: he has cut me free from the ropes of the wicked.

The Lord is true: the cords of the evil-doers are broken in two.

5 May everyone who hates Zion be driven back in humiliating defeat.

Let all the haters of Zion be shamed and turned back.

6 May they be like grass that grows on a roof that withers before it can be harvested,

Let them be like the grass on the house-tops, which is dry before it comes to full growth.

7 There's not enough even for a reaper to hold, not enough even for the binder to bind.

He who gets in the grain has no use for it; and they do not make bands of it for the grain-stems.

8 May passers-by not say to them, “The blessing of the Lord be on you; we bless you in the name of the Lord.”

And those who go by do not say, The blessing of the Lord be on you; we give you blessing in the name of the Lord.