King James Version
Psalms 129
8 verses with commentary
They Have Afflicted Me from My Youth
A Song of degrees. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say: Many: or, Much
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KJV Study Commentary
The psalm opens with reflective statement: 'Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say.' The phrase 'many a time' (Hebrew 'rabbat') emphasizes repeated, numerous instances of suffering - not isolated events but persistent pattern. 'They afflicted me' describes oppression, persecution, and hostility from enemies. The temporal marker 'from my youth' indicates suffering exte...
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(1) **Many a time.**—Or more literally, *much. *(See margin.)
**From my youth.**—Here, of course, not the youth of a person, but of the nation. The poet glances back even to the Egyptian bondage. (See Hosea 2:15, “as in the days of her youth, and as in the days when she came up out of the land of Egypt;” comp. Ezekiel 23:3; Jeremiah 2:2; Jeremiah 22:21, recalling all the long series of oppressions...
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**11. shadow ... declineth--**soon to vanish in the darkness of night.
Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me. Many: or, Much
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KJV Study Commentary
The testimony continues with crucial qualifier: 'Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me.' The first half repeats verse 1, creating emphasis through repetition. The word 'yet' introduces the pivotal contrast that transforms complaint into praise. Despite repeated affliction, enemies 'have not prevailed' - they didn't achieve ultimate victory, comple...
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12. Contrast with man's frailty (compare Psa 90:1-7).
**thy remembrance--**that by which Thou art remembered, Thy promise.
The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows .
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KJV Study Commentary
Vivid imagery describes oppression: 'The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows.' The metaphor compares affliction to agricultural violence - enemies treated Israel's back like soil to be plowed. Plowing involves cutting, tearing, and creating deep grooves. The image suggests both physical violence (scourging, beatings) and national devastation (invasion, destruction). The phras...
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(3) **Furrows.**—The Hebrew word only occurs once besides, in 1Samuel 14:14, where the margin renders as here, *furrow*—a rendering which plainly *there *is not intelligible. “Half a furrow of an acre of land,” as a space in which twenty men were killed, gives no clear idea to the mind. But Dr. J. G. Wettstein, in his excursus at the end of Delitzsch’s Commentary, explains the *ma’an *to be the st...
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13-14. Hence it is here adduced.
**for--**or, "when."
**the set time, &c.--**the time promised, the indication of which is the interest felt for Zion by the people of God.
The LORD is righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.
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KJV Study Commentary
Divine intervention is confessed: 'The LORD is righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.' The word 'righteous' (Hebrew 'tsaddiq') describes God's justice, faithfulness to covenant, and moral perfection. This attribute explains why God intervened - His righteousness required defending His people and judging oppressors. The phrase 'cut asunder the cords' pictures God severing the ropes...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **The** **Lord is righteous**.—This expression of faith, introduced without any conjunction, is itself a revelation of the deeply-rooted religion of Israel.
**Cords**.—Literally, *cord. *As in Psalm 124:7, the net was broken and the bird escaped, so here the cord binding the slave (comp. Psalm 2:3) is severed and he goes free.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
13-14. Hence it is here adduced.
**for--**or, "when."
**the set time, &c.--**the time promised, the indication of which is the interest felt for Zion by the people of God.
Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion.
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KJV Study Commentary
A curse is pronounced: 'Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion.' The imperative 'let them be' is prayer for divine judgment, not personal vengeance. The word 'confounded' (Hebrew 'bosh') means ashamed, disappointed, or put to shame - enemies' plots will fail, producing humiliation. 'Turned back' means repelled, defeated, sent away unsuccessfully. Those 'that hate Zion' aren't me...
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15-17. God's favor to the Church will affect her persecutors with fear.
Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up:
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KJV Study Commentary
The judgment continues with agricultural metaphor: 'Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up.' The comparison to 'grass upon housetops' describes something that appears to thrive briefly but has no sustaining root. Ancient flat roofs could sprout grass from windblown seeds, but shallow soil meant quick withering. The phrase 'withereth afore it groweth up' em...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **Which withereth afore it groweth up.**—This clause, with its Aramaic colouring, probably contains a textual error. The context seems certainly to require the meaning “before it is plucked up,” and many scholars get this meaning out of the Hebrew verb used elsewhere of “plucking off a shoe” and “drawing a sword.” They give, which is no doubt legitimate, an impersonal sense to the active verb,...
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15-17. God's favor to the Church will affect her persecutors with fear.
Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom.
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KJV Study Commentary
The agricultural futility continues: 'Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom.' This verse extends the housetop grass metaphor - such grass is useless for harvest. The 'mower' (one who cuts grain) cannot fill his hand because there's insufficient growth. Similarly, 'he that bindeth sheaves' (gathers harvested grain into bundles) has nothing to gather in his ...
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15-17. God's favor to the Church will affect her persecutors with fear.
Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the LORD be upon you: we bless you in the name of the LORD.
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KJV Study Commentary
The psalm concludes with absence of blessing: 'Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the LORD be upon you: we bless you in the name of the LORD.' This verse describes a blessing customarily pronounced during harvest - passersby would greet reapers with benediction (Ruth 2:4). The phrase 'neither do they which go by say' means no blessing is spoken because there's no harvest to bless. Th...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) This harvest scene is exactly like that painted in Ruth 2:4, and the last line should be printed as a return greeting from the reapers.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**18. people ... created--**(compare Psa 22:31), an organized body, as a Church.