Psalms 129:1-7

1 "Often have they attacked me from my youth" —let Israel now say—

2 "often have they attacked me from my youth, 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 the cords of the wicked.

5 May all who hate Zion be put to shame and turned backward.

6 Let them be like the grass on the housetops that withers before it grows up,

7 with which reapers do not fill their hands or binders of sheaves their arms,

Psalms 129:1-7 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 129

\\<>\\. This psalm was written in later times, after many of the distresses of Israel; very probably upon the Jews return from the Babylonish captivity, by Ezra, or some other godly person. Aben Ezra says the psalmist speaks in the language of Israel in captivity; and the same is the sense of Kimchi and Arama. The Syriac inscription is, ``a psalm without a name, concerning the distress of the people; but as to us, it intimates to us the victory and triumph of the worshippers.''