Psalm 128–130

Psalm 128

A song for those who go up to Jerusalem to worship the Lord.

¹Blessed are all those who have respect for the Lord.

They live as he wants them to live.

²Your work will give you what you need.

Blessings and good things will come to you.

³As a vine bears a lot of fruit,

so your wife will have many children by you.

They will sit around your table

like young olive trees.

⁴Only a man who has respect for the Lord

will be blessed like that.

⁵May the Lord bless you from Zion.

May you enjoy the good things that come to Jerusalem

all the days of your life.

⁶May you live to see your grandchildren.

May Israel enjoy peace.

Psalm 129

A song for those who go up to Jerusalem to worship the Lord.

¹Here is what Israel should say.

Many times my enemies have beaten me down ever since I was a young nation.

²Many times my enemies have beaten me down ever since I was a young nation,

but they haven’t won the battle.

³They have made deep wounds in my back.

It looks like a field a farmer has plowed.

⁴The Lord does what is right.

Sinners had tied me up with ropes. But the Lord has set me free.

⁵May all those who hate Zion

be driven back in shame.

⁶May they be like grass that grows on the roof of a house.

It dries up before it can grow.

⁷There isn’t enough of it to fill a person’s hand.

There isn’t enough to tie up and carry away.

⁸May no one who passes by say to those who hate Zion,

“May the blessing of the Lord be on you.

We bless you in the name of the Lord.”

Psalm 130

A song for those who go up to Jerusalem to worship the Lord.

¹Lord, I cry out to you

because I’m suffering so deeply.

²Lord, listen to me.

Pay attention to my cry for your favor.

³Lord, suppose you kept a record of sins.

Lord, who then wouldn’t be found guilty?

⁴But you forgive.

So people have respect for you.

⁵With all my heart I wait for the Lord to help me.

I put my hope in his word.

⁶I wait for the Lord to help me.

I wait with more longing than those on guard duty wait for the morning.

I’ll say it again.

I wait with more longing than those on guard duty wait for the morning.

⁷Israel, put your hope in the Lord,

because the Lord’s love never fails.

He sets his people completely free.

⁸He himself will set Israel

free from all of their sins.