Psalms 129:1
Many a time they have persecuted me from my youth— let Israel now declare—
BSB
ASV
Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth up, Let Israel now say,
KJV
Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say:
They often attacked me from my youth — let Israel now say — they often attacked me from my youth. Two things are said: both that they often attacked me, and that they attacked me from my youth. If I, for example, at forty years of age, in the middle of my life, should begin to serve the Lord, I cannot say, "They have attacked me from my youth." But what do I say? "They have slain me from my youth, they have wounded me from my youth, they have trampled me from my youth."
Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say. In her present hour of trial she may remember her former afflictions and speak of them for her comfort, drawing from them the assurance that he who has been with her for so long will not desert her in the end. The song begins abruptly. The poet has been musing, and the fire burns, therefore speaks he with his tongue; he cannot help it, he feels that he must speak, and therefore "may now say" what he has to say.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The walk8
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
Psalms 127:1Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain; unless the LORD protects the city, its watchmen stand guard in vain.
leads to
A man’s heart plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.
So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.
There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel that can prevail against the LORD.
For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
No king is saved by his vast army; no warrior is delivered by his great strength.
Through
Psalms 124:1If the LORD had not been on our side— let Israel now declare—
leads to
What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Then my enemies will retreat on the day I cry for help. By this I will know that God is on my side.
Through
Psalms 122:1I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.”
leads to
For better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.