1 A Song of Ascents. Many times they have afflicted me from my youth up. Let Israel now say,

2 many times they have afflicted me from my youth up, yet they have not prevailed against me.

3 The plowers plowed on my back. They made their furrows long.

4 The Lord is righteous. He has cut apart the cords of the wicked.

5 Let them be disappointed and turned backward, all those who hate Zion.

6 Let them be as the grass on the housetops, which withers before it grows up;

7 with which the reaper doesn't fill his hand, nor he who binds sheaves, his bosom.

8 Neither do those who go by say, "The blessing of the Lord be on you. We bless you in the name of the Lord."