Psalm 129

A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem. ¹From my earliest youth my enemies have persecuted me. Let all Israel repeat this: ² From my earliest youth my enemies have persecuted me, but they have never defeated me. ³ My back is covered with cuts, as if a farmer had plowed long furrows. ⁴ But the LORD is good; he has cut me free from the ropes of the ungodly.

⁵May all who hate Jerusalem Hebrew Zion. be turned back in shameful defeat. ⁶ May they be as useless as grass on a rooftop, turning yellow when only half grown, ⁷ ignored by the harvester, despised by the binder. ⁸ And may those who pass by refuse to give them this blessing: “The LORD bless you; we bless you in the LORD’s name.”