They Have Afflicted Me from My Youth

A Song of (A)Ascents.

129 “Greatly[a] have they (B)afflicted me (C)from my youth”—
    (D)let Israel now say—
“Greatly have they (E)afflicted me (F)from my youth,
    (G)yet they have not prevailed against me.
(H)The plowers plowed (I)upon my back;
    they made long their furrows.”
The Lord is righteous;
    he has cut (J)the cords of the wicked.
May all who hate Zion
    be (K)put to shame and turned backward!
Let them be like (L)the grass on the housetops,
    which (M)withers before it grows up,
with which the reaper does not fill his hand
    nor the binder of sheaves his arms,
nor do those who pass by say,
    (N)“The blessing of the Lord be upon you!
    We (O)bless you in the name of the Lord!”

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 129:1 Or Often; also verse 2

129 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say:

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

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

The Lord is righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.

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

Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up:

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

Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we bless you in the name of the Lord.