Revised Standard Version RSV
Good News Translation GNT
1 A Song of Ascents. "Sorely have they afflicted me from my youth," let Israel now say--
1
Israel, tell us how your enemies have persecuted you ever since you were young.
2 "Sorely have they afflicted me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me.
2
"Ever since I was young, my enemies have persecuted me cruelly, but they have not overcome me.
3 The plowers plowed upon my back; they made long their furrows."
3
They cut deep wounds in my back and made it like a plowed field.
4 The LORD is righteous; he has cut the cords of the wicked.
4
But the Lord, the righteous one, has freed me from slavery."
5 May all who hate Zion be put to shame and turned backward!
5
May everyone who hates Zion be defeated and driven back.
6 Let them be like the grass on the housetops, which withers before it grows up,
6
May they all be like grass growing on the housetops, which dries up before it can grow;
7 with which the reaper does not fill his hand or the binder of sheaves his bosom,
7
no one gathers it up or carries it away in bundles.
8 while those who pass by do not say, "The blessing of the LORD be upon you! We bless you in the name of the LORD!"
8
No one who passes by will say, "May the Lord bless you! We bless you in the name of the Lord."
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.