Psalm 129–131

A Pilgrim Song

^1–4129“They’ve kicked me around ever since I was young”

—this is how Israel tells it—

“They’ve kicked me around ever since I was young,

but they never could keep me down.

Their plowmen plowed long furrows

up and down my back;

Then God ripped the harnesses

of the evil plowmen to shreds.”

^5–8Oh, let all those who hate Zion

grovel in humiliation;

Let them be like grass in shallow ground

that withers before the harvest,

Before the farmhands can gather it in,

the harvesters get in the crop,

Before the neighbors have a chance to call out,

“Congratulations on your wonderful crop!

We bless you in God’s name!”

A Pilgrim Song

^1–2130Help, God—the bottom has fallen out of my life!

Master, hear my cry for help!

Listen hard! Open your ears!

Listen to my cries for mercy.

^3–4If you, God, kept records on wrongdoings,

who would stand a chance?

As it turns out, forgiveness is your habit,

and that’s why you’re worshiped.

^5–6I pray to God—my life a prayer—

and wait for what he’ll say and do.

My life’s on the line before God, my Lord,

waiting and watching till morning,

waiting and watching till morning.

^7–8O Israel, wait and watch for God—

with God’s arrival comes love,

with God’s arrival comes generous redemption.

No doubt about it—he’ll redeem Israel,

buy back Israel from captivity to sin.

A Pilgrim Song

¹131God, I’m not trying to rule the roost,

I don’t want to be king of the mountain.

I haven’t meddled where I have no business

or fantasized grandiose plans.

²I’ve kept my feet on the ground,

I’ve cultivated a quiet heart.

Like a baby content in its mother’s arms,

my soul is a baby content.

³Wait, Israel, for God. Wait with hope.

Hope now; hope always!