Fathers

Psalms 129

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Many times they have afflicted me from my youth up. Let Israel now say, many times they have afflicted me from my youth up, yet they have not prevailed against me. The plowers plowed on my back. They made their furrows long. Yahweh is righteous. He has cut apart the cords of the wicked. Let them be disappointed and turned backward, all those who hate Zion. Let them be as the grass on the housetops, which withers before it grows up, with which the reaper doesn’t fill his hand, nor he who binds sheaves, his bosom. Neither do those who go by say, “The blessing of Yahweh be on you. We bless you in Yahweh’s name.”

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What the Fathers say

Psalms 129:6

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

But what says he of them? The next words are, "Let them be even as the grass of the house tops: that withers before it be plucked up" [Psalm 129:6]. The grass of the house tops is that which grows on house tops, on a tiled roof: it is seen on high, and has not a root. How much better would it be if it grew lower, and how much more joyfully would it bloom? As it is, it rises higher to a quicker withering. …

Exposition on Psalm 129 ↗