They Have Afflicted Me from My Youth

^{A SONG OF ASCENTS.} 

¹ “ Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth”— let Israel now say—

² “ Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me.

³ The ploughers ploughed upon my back; they made long their furrows.”

⁴ The Lord is righteous; he has cut the cords of the wicked.

⁵ May all who hate Zion be put to shame and turned back wards!

⁶ Let them be like the grass on the house tops, which withers before it grows up,

⁷ with which the reaper does not fill his hand nor the binder of sheaves his arms,

⁸ nor do those who pass by say, “ The blessing of the Lord be upon you! We bless you in the name of the Lord!”