Psalms 129

This is one of the Songs of Ascents, sung by pilgrims going up to Jerusalem. Israel looks back on a long history of suffering and says that the enemy never won. The psalm ends with a prayer that those who hate Zion would come to nothing, like thin grass on a roof.

Psalms 129:1

The whole nation is invited to speak. Israel’s story of hardship began early, in its ‘youth’, which recalls the slavery in Egypt. The people are asked to tell it aloud together, not to keep it as private grief.

BSA: persecuted (“afflicted, distressed”): The word describes real pressure and distress, not a mere annoyance. youth (“the state of being young”): The trouble started at the very beginning of Israel’s life as a people.

See also: Hosea 11:1.

Psalms 129:2

The line repeats verse 1, then gives the turn: they have not prevailed. Israel was attacked many times and was never destroyed. The repetition is the point. Suffering was constant, and so was God’s preserving hand.

BSA: prevailed (“been able, overcome”): The enemies were never able to finish the job, however long they tried.

See also: 2 Corinthians 4:8-9.

Psalms 129:3

The picture is of a field being plowed, but the field is the back of the sufferer. The long furrows are the lashes and wounds of oppression. It is a vivid and painful image, and the psalmist does not make it smaller than it was.

BSA: furrows (“lines of turned-over soil, wounds”): The plowed lines stand for deep wounds left on the body. long (“deep, lasting”): The suffering was not brief. It went deep and left marks.

See also: Isaiah 50:6.

Psalms 129:4

Here is the turning point of the psalm. The suffering was real, but the LORD acted. Because He is righteous, He does not leave oppression unanswered. He cut the cords, as one frees an ox from its harness, and so ended the wicked’s hold.

BSA: cut (“severed, cut asunder”): God did not loosen the bonds slowly. He cut them through cleanly. righteous (“just, having God’s nature”): Deliverance rests on God’s own just character.

Hebrew: צַדִּיק (tsaddiq, H6662) — “righteous, just.” The word describes someone who does what is right and faithful to his promises. God’s rescue of His people is therefore an act of His justice, not just kindness.

See also: Psalm 124:6-7.

Psalms 129:5

The psalm now becomes a prayer. Those who hate Zion, God’s city and people, are asked to be turned back in shame. The prayer is for their plans to fail, because opposing Zion means opposing the purposes of God.

BSA: turned back (“driven back, confounded, and turned backward”): The enemies are pictured as an army forced into retreat, with their plans overturned.

See also: Psalm 125:1-2.

Psalms 129:6

Roofs in Israel were flat, with only a thin layer of soil. Seed sprouted there quickly in the sun, then dried up for lack of root. So the psalm pictures the wicked: a quick, showy start, and then nothing of value.

BSA: withers (“to dry up, become ashamed”): The grass dries out and fails, as the wicked fail in the end.

See also: Psalm 37:1-2; Matthew 13:5-6.

Psalms 129:7

Roof grass is so poor that no harvester can gather a handful from it, and no binder an armful. It produces nothing worth carrying home. The wicked may flourish for a season, but they bring in no lasting harvest.

BSA: fill (“to make full, to satisfy”): The grass cannot even satisfy a single hand, so it is wholly empty. sheaves (“bundles of grain, harvested crops”): A sheaf is the sign of a successful harvest, and here there is none.

Psalms 129:8

In the countryside, passers-by greeted reapers with a blessing in the LORD’s name. The psalm says no one will give that greeting to those who hate Zion. They are left outside the sphere of God’s favor, and the contrast shows how blessed His people are.

BSA: blessing (“divine favor, gift from God”): Blessing here is real favor from God, not a polite phrase. name (“identity, character”): To bless in the LORD’s name is to call on all that He is.

See also: Ruth 2:4; Numbers 6:24-26.