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. Many times they have afflicted me from my youth up. Let Israel now say:

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

many times they have afflicted me from my youth up, yet 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.

The LORD is righteous. He has cut apart the cords of the wicked.

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

Let them be disappointed and turned backward, all those who hate Zion.

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

Let them be as the grass on the housetops, which withers before it grows up,

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

with which the reaper doesn’t fill his hand, nor he who binds sheaves, his bosom.

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.”

Neither do those who go by say, “The blessing of the LORD be on you. We bless you in the LORD’s name.”