BibleInTonguesWEB
Psalms 129
Israel is told to recite its own scarred history: "Many times they have afflicted me from my youth up" — yet the refrain pivots on "they have not prevailed" (vv. 1-2). The vivid image is of plowers cutting long furrows across the speaker's back (v. 3). The second half turns to the enemies of Zion. The prayer is not for their death but that they wither fast as rooftop grass — useless to any harvester, unblessed by passers-by.
- 1
Many times they have afflicted me from my youth up. Let Israel now say:
- 2
many times they have afflicted me from my youth up, yet they have not prevailed against me.
- 3
The plowers plowed on my back. They made their furrows long.
- 4
The LORD is righteous. He has cut apart the cords of the wicked.
- 5
Let them be disappointed and turned backward, all those who hate Zion.
- 6
Let them be as the grass on the housetops, which withers before it grows up,
- 7
with which the reaper doesn’t fill his hand, nor he who binds sheaves, his bosom.
- 8
Neither do those who go by say, “The blessing of the LORD be on you. We bless you in the LORD’s name.”
- 1
Cántico gradual. MUCHO me han angustiado desde mi juventud, puede decir ahora Israel;
- 2
Mucho me han angustiado desde mi juventud; mas no prevalecieron contra mí.
- 3
Sobre mis espaldas araron los aradores: hicieron largos surcos.
- 4
Jehová es justo; cortó las coyundas de los impíos.
- 5
Serán avergonzados y vueltos atrás todos los que aborrecen á Sión.
- 6
Serán como la hierba de los tejados, que se seca antes que crezca:
- 7
De la cual no hinchió segador su mano, ni sus brazos el que hace gavillas.
- 8
Ni dijeron los que pasaban: Bendición de Jehová sea sobre vosotros; os bendecimos en el nombre de Jehová.
Grass on a roof, and a harvest nobody greets
Verses 6-7 picture seed sprouting in shallow rooftop dirt: it shoots up, then dries before it can be reaped, so no one fills a hand or an armful with it.
The closing barb (v. 8) withholds the ordinary field-greeting, "The blessing of the LORD be on you" — the customary words harvesters exchanged are pointedly never said over Zion's foes.
Context layers
Keep these closed by default and open them only when you want more context.
Share a small range via:
/en/web/psalms/129/16-18
Or use the Passage link builder.