Psalmorum 129

1 Canticum graduum. [Sæpe expugnaverunt me a juventute mea, dicat nunc Israël;

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

2 sæpe expugnaverunt me a juventute mea: etenim non potuerunt mihi.

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

3 Supra dorsum meum fabricaverunt peccatores; prolongaverunt iniquitatem suam.

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

4 Dominus justus concidit cervices peccatorum.

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

5 Confundantur, et convertantur retrorsum omnes qui oderunt Sion.

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

6 Fiant sicut fœnum tectorum, quod priusquam evellatur exaruit:

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

7 de quo non implevit manum suam qui metit, et sinum suum qui manipulos colligit.

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

8 Et non dixerunt qui præteribant: Benedictio Domini super vos. Benediximus vobis in nomine Domini.]

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