Psalm 129: The Plowers Plowed upon My Back

"Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say: many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me. The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows. The LORD is righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked."

"Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion. Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up: wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom. Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the LORD be upon you: we bless you in the name of the LORD."

Plough and grass

Israel speaks as one person whose back has been plowed like a field, an image of whipping and humiliation (compare Isaiah 51:23). God cuts the cords that harness the plough. The enemies become grass on flat mud roofs, which sprouts quickly and withers before harvest, never gathered and never blessed by passers-by (the greeting of reapers in Ruth 2:4).

Israel's history in one voice

"From my youth" (the exodus period, Hosea 2:15) Israel has been oppressed and survived. The psalm does not name a single event; it surveys a long history. The heading "A Song of degrees" (Vulgate "Canticum graduum") marks it as one of the fifteen Songs of Ascents (Psalms 120–134; see Psalm 120 for the possible meanings).

Versions and later use

The library's Vulgate ("Saepe expugnaverunt me a juventute mea") follows the Hebrew closely. No New Testament writer quotes Psalm 129; in Christian monastic prayer the Songs of Ascents were often prayed together as a group.