A Song of degrees.
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.
A Prayer against Israel's Enemies
1 Israel, tell us how your enemies have persecuted you
ever since you were young.
2 “Ever since I was young,
my enemies have persecuted me cruelly,
but they have not overcome me.
3 They cut deep wounds in my back
and made it like a plowed field.
4 But the Lord, the righteous one,
has freed me from slavery.”
5 May everyone who hates Zion
be defeated and driven back.
6 May they all be like grass growing on the housetops,
which dries up before it can grow;
7 no one gathers it up
or carries it away in bundles.
8 No one who passes by will say,
“May the Lord bless you!
We bless you in the name of the Lord.”
