*Psalms 129

₁‘My enemies have oppressed me

from the time that I was young.’

This is what the Israelites must say:

₂‘My enemies have oppressed me

from the time that I was young.’

But they have not defeated me.

₃They have beaten me

on my back with whips.

My back looked like a field

after the farmers have ploughed it

and broken the ground.

₄The Lord has done what is right,

and He has come and cut the ropes that

sinful people used to tie me.

₅I pray that people who hate Zion

will become ashamed and disappear.

₆I pray that they will be like grass

on the roofs of houses

that becomes dry and doesn't grow.

₇No one can cut it and bind it into bundles.

₈No one walks past the house and says:

‘We pray that the Lord will bless you.’

No one will say: ‘We bless you,

and we know that the Lord will be with you.’