Canticum graduum.

A gradual canticle.

(A song of ascents.)

Sæpe expugnaverunt me a juventute mea, dicat nunc Israël;

Often have they fought against me from my youth, let Israel now say.

Sore have they beset me even from my youth (let this be Israel’s boast);

sæpe expugnaverunt me a juventute mea: etenim non potuerunt mihi.

Often have they fought against me from my youth: but they could not prevail over me.

sore have they beset me even from my youth, but never once outmatched me.

Supra dorsum meum fabricaverunt peccatores; prolongaverunt iniquitatem suam.

The wicked have wrought upon my back: they have lengthened their iniquity.

I bent my back to the oppressor, and long was the furrow ere the plough turned;

Dominus justus concidit cervices peccatorum.

The Lord who is just will cut the necks of sinners:

but the Lord proved faithful, and cut the bonds of tyranny asunder.

Confundantur, et convertantur retrorsum omnes qui oderunt Sion.

let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Sion.

Let them be dismayed and routed, all these enemies of Sion.

Fiant sicut fœnum tectorum, quod priusquam evellatur exaruit:

Let them be as grass upon the tops of houses: which withereth before it be plucked up:

Let them be like the stalks on a house-top, that wither there unharvested;

de quo non implevit manum suam qui metit, et sinum suum qui manipulos colligit.

Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand: nor he that gathereth sheaves his bosom.

never will they be grasped in the reaper’s hand, or fill the binder’s bosom,

Et non dixerunt qui præteribant: Benedictio Domini super vos. Benediximus vobis in nomine Domini.

And they that passed by have not said: The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we have blessed you in the name of the Lord.

no passer-by will say, The Lord’s blessing on you; we bless you in the name of the Lord.