This psalm remembers how long and severely Israel has been afflicted, describing persecution as deep furrows cut across the back. But the chapter does not end with the oppressor's strength; it says the LORD is righteous and has cut the cords of the wicked, then turns into a wish that all who hate Zion would dry up like rooftop grass, fruitless and unblessed.
Within the Songs of Ascents, Psalm 129 gives the pilgrim community a language for historical suffering without surrendering the last word to it. It fits Book V by holding together memory of affliction, confidence in the LORD's just intervention, and a final reversal in which Zion's enemies prove barren and passing rather than enduring.
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A1 song of ascents. 2many a time they have persecuted me from my youth, 3The plowmen plowed over my back; 4The LORD is righteous; 5May all who hate Zion 6May they be like grass on the rooftops, 7unable to fill the hands of the reaper, 8May none who pass by say to them,
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