Psalms 129
A psalm of survival against long affliction and hatred.
Psalm 129 opens with Israel recalling a history of suffering, "many a time have they afflicted me from my youth," yet insisting the enemy "have not prevailed." It offers a harder-edged companion to the blessing pronounced in Psalms 128, this time framed as survival rather than prosperity.
> Many times they have afflicted me from my youth up. Let Israel now say,
Many times they have afflicted me from my youth up, Yet they have not prevailed against me.
The plowers plowed on my back. They made their furrows long.
Yahweh is righteous. He has cut apart the cords of the wicked.
Let them be disappointed and turned backward, All those who hate Zion.
Let them be as the grass on the housetops, Which withers before it grows up;
With which the reaper doesn't fill his hand, Nor he who binds sheaves, his bosom.
Neither do those who go by say, \"The blessing of Yahweh be on you. We bless you in the name of Yahweh.\"