Psalms 129

1 A song of ascents. ‘Sore have they vexed me from youth’ thus let Israel say

A Song of degrees. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say:

2 ‘Sore have they vexed me from youth, but they have not prevailed against me.

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

3 ‘The ploughers ploughed on my back, they made their furrows long.

The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows.

4 But the Lord, who is righteous, has cut the cords of the wicked.’

The LORD [is] righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.

5 Let all who are haters of Zion be put to shame and defeated.

Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion.

6 May they be as the grass on the house-top, which withers before it shoots up;

Let them be as the grass [upon] the house-tops, which withereth before it groweth up:

7 which fills not the arms of the reaper, nor the lap of the binder of sheaves

With which the mower filleth not his hand; nor he that bindeth sheaves, his bosom.

8 whereof no one says as they pass, ‘The blessing of God be upon you.’ In the name of the Lord we bless you.

Neither do they who go by, say, The blessing of the LORD [be] upon you: we bless you in the name of the LORD.