Psalms 129

1 A SONG OF THE ASCENTS. Often they distressed me from my youth, Pray, let 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 Often they distressed me from my youth, Yet they have not prevailed over me.

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

3 Plowers have plowed over my back, They have made their furrows long.

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

4 YHWH [is] righteous, He has cut apart cords of the wicked.

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

5 All hating Zion [are] confounded and turn backward.

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

6 They are as grass of the roofs, That withers before it was drawn out,

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

7 That has not filled the hand of a reaper, And the bosom of a binder of sheaves.

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

8 And the passers by have not said, “The blessing of YHWH [is] on you, We blessed you in the Name of YHWH!”

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.