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Annotations & References
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Psalms 129
Psalms
Chapter 129
129
1Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth up, Let Israel now say,
2Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth up: Yet they have not prevailed against me.
3The plowers plowed upon my back; They made long their furrows.
4Jehovah is righteous: He hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.
5Let them be put to shame and turned backward, All they that hate Zion.
6Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, Which withereth before it groweth up;
7Wherewith the reaper filleth not his hand, Nor he that bindeth sheaves, his bosom:
8Neither do they that go by say, The blessing of Jehovah be upon you; We bless you in the name of Jehovah.
What is Psalms 129 about?
Turning from blessing to endurance, this Song of Ascents lets Israel look back on a lifetime of affliction from her youth, plowed upon like a field yet never overcome. The righteous LORD has cut asunder the cords of the wicked, and the psalm asks that all who hate Zion be confounded and turned back, withering like grass upon the housetops. Affliction has not prevailed, because the LORD is righteous. The survival of the oppressed people testifies that no enemy can finally undo what God preserves.
Matthew Henry on Psalms 129