< Psalmorum 129 >
1 Canticum graduum. Saepe expugnaverunt me a iuventute mea, dicat nunc Israel.
A song for pilgrims going up to Jerusalem. Many enemies have attacked from the time I was young. Let everyone in Israel say:
2 Saepe expugnaverunt me a iuventute 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 iustus concidet 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 foenum 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 implebit 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 praeteribant: 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.”