Psalm 129

A Prayer Against the Enemies

1 They have treated me badly all my life. (Let Israel repeat this.)

2 They have treated me badly all my life, but they have not defeated me.

3 Like farmers plowing, they plowed over my back, making long wounds.

4 But the Lord does what is right; he has set me free from those wicked people.

5 Let those who hate Jerusalem be turned back in shame.

6 Let them be like the grass on the roof that dries up before it has grown.

7 There is not enough of it to fill a hand or to make into a bundle to fill one’s arms.
8 Let those who pass by them not say, “May the Lord bless you. We bless you by the power of the Lord.”

Psalm 129

A song of ascents.

1 “Since my youth they have often attacked me,”
let Israel say.

2 “Since my youth they have often attacked me,
but they have not defeated me.

3 The plowers plowed my back;
they made their furrows long.

4 The Lord is just;
he cut the ropes of the wicked.”

5 May all who hate Zion
be humiliated and turned back!

6 May they be like the grass on the rooftops
which withers before one can even pull it up,

7 which cannot fill the reaper’s hand,
or the lap of the one who gathers the grain!

8 Those who pass by will not say,
“May you experience the Lord’s blessing!
We pronounce a blessing on you in the name of the Lord.”