Psalmorum 129

1 Canticum graduum. Saepe expugnaverunt me a iuventute mea, dicat nunc Israel.

“A song of the degrees.” Many a time have they assailed me from my youth, so should Israel say;

2 Saepe expugnaverunt me a iuventute mea: etenim non potuerunt mihi.

Many a time have they assailed me from my youth: yet have they not prevailed against me.

3 Supra dorsum meum fabricaverunt peccatores: prolongaverunt iniquitatem suam.

Upon my back have ploughmen ploughed; they have drawn long their furrows:

4 Dominus iustus concidet cervices peccatorum:

[Yet] the Lord is righteous; he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.

5 confundantur et convertantur retrorsum omnes, qui oderunt Sion.

May all be put to shame and turned backward that hate Zion;

6 Fiant sicut foenum tectorum: quod priusquam evellatur, exaruit:

May they become like the grass of the roofs, which withereth before it is pulled up;

7 De quo non implebit manum suam qui metit, et sinum suum qui manipulos colligit.

Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; nor his arm he that bindeth sheaves.

8 Et non dixerunt qui praeteribant: Benedictio Domini super vos: benediximus vobis in nomine Domini.

Nor do they who pass by say, The blessing of the Lord be with you: we bless you in the name of the Lord.