1 A Song of degrees. Many times they have afflicted me from my youth, Israel may now say;

2 many times they have afflicted me from my youth; yet they have not prevailed over me.

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

4 The LORD [is] righteous; He cuts off the cords of the wicked.

5 Let them all be ashamed and turned back, those who hate Zion.

6 Let them be like the grass [on] the housetops, which dries up before it grows up,

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

8 And those who pass by have never said, The blessing of the LORD [be] on you; we bless you in the name of the LORD.