Psalm 129

Prayer for the Downfall of Israel’s Enemies

A Song of Ascents.
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.
³Those who plough ploughed on my back;
   they made their furrows long.’
⁴The Lord is righteous;
   he has cut the cords of the wicked.
⁵May all who hate Zion
   be put to shame and turned back.
⁶Let them be like the grass on the housetops
   that withers before it grows up,
⁷with which reapers do not fill their hands
   or binders of sheaves their arms,
⁸while those who pass by do not say,
   ‘The blessing of the Lord be upon you!
   We bless you in the name of the Lord!’