Psalms of David - 129

Description:

Psalm 129 is a reflection on Israel’s enduring resilience and God’s justice. The psalmist recalls the long history of suffering and oppression faced by Israel, starting from their youth, but notes that their enemies have never ultimately prevailed. The psalm highlights God’s righteousness in cutting the bonds of the wicked. It concludes with a curse on those who hate Zion, wishing that they be as withered grass on rooftops that fails to thrive, and receives no blessing from passersby.

1.  A Song of Ascents. ‘Much have they afflicted me from my youth up’, Let Israel now say;
2. ’Much have they afflicted me from my youth up; But 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 be ashamed and turned backward, All they that hate Zion.
6. Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, Which withereth afore it springeth up;
7. Wherewith the reaper filleth not his hand, Nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom.
8. Neither do they that go by say: ‘The blessing of the LORD be upon you; We bless you in the name of the LORD.’

ᾨδὴ τῶν ἀναβαθμῶν.

ΕΚ ΒΑΘΕΩΝ ἐκέκραξά σοι, Κύριε·
2 Κύριε, εἰσάκουσον τῆς φωνῆς μου· γενηθήτω τὰ ὦτά σου προσέχοντα εἰς τὴν φωνὴν τῆς δεήσεώς μου.
3 ἐὰν ἀνομίας παρατηρήσῃς, Κύριε Κύριε, τίς ὑποστήσεται;
4 ὅτι παρὰ σοὶ ὁ ἱλασμός ἐστιν.
5 ἕνεκεν τοῦ ὀνόματός σου ὑπέμεινά σε, Κύριε, ὑπέμεινεν ἡ ψυχή μου εἰς τὸν λόγον σου.
6 ἤλπισεν ἡ ψυχή μου ἐπὶ τὸν Κύριον απὸ φυλακῆς πρωΐας μέχρι νυκτός· ἀπὸ φυλακῆς πρωΐας ἐλπισάτω Ἰσραὴλ ἐπὶ τὸν Κύριον.
7 ὅτι παρὰ τῷ Κυρίῳ τὸ ἔλεος καὶ πολλὴ παρ᾿ αὐτῷ λύτρωσις,
8 καὶ αὐτὸς λυτρώσεται τὸν Ἰσραὴλ ἐκ πασῶν τῶν ἀνομιῶν αὐτοῦ.