Psalms 129

1 A Song of degrees. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth — oh let Israel say —

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

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

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

3 The ploughers ploughed upon my back; they made long their furrows.

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

4 Jehovah is righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.

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

5 Let them be ashamed and turned backward, all that hate Zion;

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

6 Let them be as the grass upon the house-tops, which withereth before it is plucked up,

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

7 Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand, nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom;

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

8 Neither do the passers-by say, The blessing of Jehovah be upon you; we bless you in the name of Jehovah!

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