1 “Sorely have they afflicted me from my youth,”

let Israel now say—

2 “Sorely 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 The Lord is righteous;

he has cut the cords of the wicked.

5 May all who hate Zion

be put to shame and turned backward!

6 Let them be like the grass on the housetops,

which withers before it grows up,

7 with which the reaper does not fill his hand

or the binder of sheaves his bosom,

8 while those who pass by do not say,

“The blessing of the Lord be upon you!

We bless you in the name of the Lord!”