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PSALM 129

STROPHE DIVISIONS OF MODERN TRANSLATIONS

READING CYCLE THREE (see "Bible Interpretation Seminar")

FOLLOWING THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR'S INTENT AT PARAGRAPH LEVEL

This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

Read the chapter in one sitting. Identify the subjects (reading cycle #3). Compare your subject divisions with the five translations above. Paragraphing is not inspired, but it is the key to following the original author's intent, which is the heart of interpretation. Every paragraph has one and only one subject.

CONTEXTUAL INSIGHTS

1. This is a national lament. The concept of "son" is used for Israel
   SPECIAL TOPIC: THE SON OF GOD.
   
   
2. The second stanza (Ps. 129:5-8) is a curse on Israel's persecutors, who apparently are foreigners.
   
   
3. Many of the images referring to Israel's life and faith are drawn from agriculture. It is crucial that we remember the following truths when we interpret the Psalms.
   1. they are OT and not NT (i.e., performance based covenant)
   2. they relate to an ANE setting (see SPECIAL TOPIC: EASTERN LITERATURE)
   3. they focus on covenant obedience and the centrality of national Israel in the plan of God (see SPECIAL TOPIC: KEEP and  SPECIAL TOPIC: YHWH'S ETERNAL REDEMPTIVE PLAN)
   4. they must be reinterpreted in light of the NT gospel

WORD AND PHRASE STUDY

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 129:1-4
 ¹"Many times they have persecuted me from my youth up,"
 Let Israel now say,
 ²"Many times they have persecuted me from my youth up;
 Yet they have not prevailed against me.
 ³The plowers plowed upon my back;
 They lengthened their furrows."
 ⁴The Lord is righteous;
 He has cut in two the cords of the wicked.

129:1-2 Psalm 129:1, line 1 seems, at first, to address the situation of a faithful individual but the VERB of line 2 (BDB 55, KB 65, Qal IMPERFECT used in a JUSSIVE sense) shows this is a national lament (i.e., liturgical repeat of vv. 1 and 2). This Psalm does not state why Israel is persecuted so often. Like most of the Psalms, the admission of sin of the covenant people is not expressed, but assumed. The terrible realities of Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 27-28 have become a national reality.

129:2b The fact that national Israel remained in existence is a tribute to the mercy (cf. Malachi 1) and purpose of God.

SPECIAL TOPIC: YHWH'S ETERNAL REDEMPTIVE PLAN

129:3 This is agricultural imagery denoting suffering and pain.

129:4a Israel remains because of their God. He is true to His character and purpose (cf. Gen. 3:15; Exod. 19:5-6; Isa. 2:2-4; Mic. 4:1-3).

SPECIAL TOPIC: RIGHTEOUSNESS

129:4b This ("cords," BDB 721) may refer to

1. the trapping of animals (cf. Ps. 140:5)
2. the bindings of a yoke of oxen (cf. Job 39:10)
3. the bindings of a prisoner

AB (p. 231) suggests that this line of poetry be understood as a JUSSIVE (as is Ps. 129:5-6), which would denote a prayer. If YHWH has already "cut" (BDB 893, KB 1125, Piel PERFECT), why the curses of Ps. 129:5-6? Dahood makes it a PREDICATIVE PERFECT, which he notes is often found in parallel with JUSSIVES. If this is true, then Ps.129:4 begins a new strophe (i.e., Ps. 129:4-8), therefore, a translation like "Let YHWH cut the cords (i.e., oxen plows) of the wicked." Most English translations (NKJV, NRSV, TEV, NJB, JPSOA, REB) translate the VERB as a past event.

129:4-8 This strophe (see paragraph above) describes a curse on all who hate Zion (i.e., meaning YHWH and His people). In this context, Zion refers to national Israel with its center being the temple in Jerusalem.

1. be put to shame ‒ BDB 101, KB 116, Qal IMPERFECT used in a JUSSIVE sense, Ps. 129:5
2. be turned back ‒ BDB 690, KB 744, Niphal IMPERFECT used in a JUSSIVE sense, Ps. 129:6
3. let them be like grass upon the housetops ‒ BDB 224, KB 243, Qal IMPERFECT used in a JUSSIVE sense, Ps. 129:6
   1. it withers before it grows, Ps. 129:6b
   2. the reaper has no fruit from it, Ps. 129:7
4. no one blesses them, Ps. 129:8

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 129:5-8
 ⁵May all who hate Zion 
 Be put to shame and turned backward;
 ⁶Let them be like grass upon the housetops,
 Which withers before it grows up;
 ⁷With which the reaper does not fill his hand,
 Or the binder of sheaves his bosom;
 ⁸Nor do those who pass by say,
 "The blessing of the Lord be upon you;
 We bless you in the name of the Lord."

129:5b "put to shame" This term (BDB 101, KB 116) denotes someone out of fellowship with YHWH and under His judgment. It can be used of

1. foreigners
2. rebellious Israelites

It denotes the consequences of unfaithfulness or unbelief mentioned in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 27-30 as becoming a reality (see NIDOTTE, vol. 1, pp. 621-627).

For "ashamed" see note at Ps. 119:6.

SPECIAL TOPIC: SHAME

129:8a-b This may refer to the blessing that friends, family, and neighbors shouted to the harvesters (cf. Ruth 2:4).

128:8b "Lord" See SPECIAL TOPIC: NAMES FOR DEITY, D.

129:8c See SPECIAL TOPIC: "THE NAME" of YHWH.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought-provoking, not definitive.

1. Does the opening of this Psalm imply a liturgy?
2. Why is Israel called "a youth"?
3. To what does "cords" of Ps. 129:4 refer?
4. Define "shame."
5. What is the possible historical setting of Ps. 129:8?

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