Psaumes 129

1 Cantique des montées. Ils m’ont cruellement opprimé dès ma jeunesse, — qu’Israël le dise! —

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

2 Ils m’ont cruellement opprimé dès ma jeunesse, mais ils n’ont pas prévalu contre moi.

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

3 Ils ont labouré mon dos, ils y ont tracé de longs sillons.

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

4 Mais Yahweh est juste: il a coupé les liens des méchants.

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

5 Qu’ils soient confondus et qu’ils reculent en arrière, tous ceux qui haïssent Sion!

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

6 Qu’ils soient comme l’herbe des toits, qui sèche avant qu’on l’arrache.

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

7 Le moissonneur n’en remplit pas sa main, ni celui qui lie les gerbes, son giron;

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

8 et les passants ne disent pas: « Que la bénédiction de Yahweh soit sur vous! » — « Nous vous bénissons au nom de Yahweh. »

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