Psalms · Chapter 129 of 150

Psalm 129

Thankfulness for former deliverances. · A believing prospect of the destruction of the enemies of Zion.

1A Song of degrees. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say: 2Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me. 3The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows. 4The Lord is righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.

5Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion. 6Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up: 7Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom. 8Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we bless you in the name of the Lord.

King James Version (1769) · public domain

About Psalms

Psalm 129 commentary

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706), public domain.

Verses 1-4

The enemies of God's people have very barbarously endeavoured to wear out the saints of the Most High. But the church has been always graciously delivered. Christ has built his church upon a rock. And the Lord has many ways of disabling wicked men from doing the mischief they design against his church. The Lord is righteous in not suffering Israel to be ruined; he has promised to preserve a people to himself.

Verses 5-8

While God's people shall flourish as the loaded palm-tree, or the green and fruitful olive, their enemies shall wither as the grass upon the house-tops, which in eastern countries are flat, and what grows there never ripens; so it is with the designs of God's enemies. No wise man will pray the Lord to bless these mowers or reapers. And when we remember how Jesus arose and reigns; how his people have been supported, like the burning but unconsumed bush, we shall not fear.

Key verses in Psalm 129

  • Psalms 129:4

    The Lord is righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.

  • Psalms 129:1

    A Song of degrees. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say:

  • Psalms 129:8

    Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we bless you in the name of the Lord.

  • Psalms 129:2

    Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me.

  • Psalms 129:5

    Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion.