A Song of degrees.

1 “Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth,” may Yisrael now say:

2 “Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth; yet they have not prevailed against me.

3 The plowers plowed upon my back; they made long their furrows.”

4 יהוה is righteous; He hath cut in pieces the cords of the wicked.

5 Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion (Tsiyon).

6 Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up;

7 Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom.

8 Neither do they which go by say, “The blessing of יהוה be upon you; we bless you in the name of יהוה!”