< Psalms 129 >
1 MANY a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say:
“A song of the degrees.” Many a time have they assailed me from my youth, so should Israel say;
2 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me.
Many a time have they assailed me from my youth: yet have they not prevailed against me.
3 The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows.
Upon my back have ploughmen ploughed; they have drawn long their furrows:
4 The Lord is righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.
[Yet] the Lord is righteous; he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.
5 Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion.
May all be put to shame and turned backward that hate Zion;
6 Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up:
May they become like the grass of the roofs, which withereth before it is pulled up;
7 Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom.
Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; nor his arm he that bindeth sheaves.
8 Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we bless you in the name of the Lord.
Nor do they who pass by say, The blessing of the Lord be with you: we bless you in the name of the Lord.