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 ascents. “Sore have they vexed me from youth” thus let Israel say

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

“Sore have they vexed me from youth, but they have not prevailed against me.

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

“The ploughers ploughed on my back, they made their furrows long.

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

But the Lord, who is righteous, has cut the cords of the wicked.”

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

Let all who are haters of Zion be put to shame and defeated.

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

May they be as the grass on the house-top, which withers before it shoots up;

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

which fills not the arms of the reaper, nor the lap of the binder of sheaves

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.”

whereof no one says as they pass, “The blessing of God be upon you.” In the name of the Lord we bless you.