King James Version
Psalm 129
Endurance in the face of long-standing adversity defines this corporate song of survival. The speaker looks back on Israel's history of hardship, using the vivid image of plowers making deep furrows across a back, yet affirming that enemies have not prevailed. Functioning as the tenth Song of Ascents (Psalms 120 to 134), this hymn helped travelers process collective suffering and celebrate divine justice on their way to Zion. A key verse highlights this deliverance: "The LORD is righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked." (Psalm 129:4). The chapter expresses honest historical memory alongside quiet confidence.
1 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say:
2 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me.
3 The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows.
4 The LORD is righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.
5 Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion.
6 Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up:
7 Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom.
8 Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the LORD be upon you: we bless you in the name of the LORD.
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