Psalms 129

1 A SONG OF THE ASCENTS. Often they distressed me from my youth, Pray, let Israel say:

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

2 Often they distressed me from my youth, Yet they have not prevailed over me.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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