Canticum graduum.

(A song of ascents.)

A gradual canticle.

Sæpe expugnaverunt me a juventute mea, dicat nunc Israël;

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

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

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

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

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

Supra dorsum meum fabricaverunt peccatores; prolongaverunt iniquitatem suam.

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

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

Dominus justus concidit cervices peccatorum.

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

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

Confundantur, et convertantur retrorsum omnes qui oderunt Sion.

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

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

Fiant sicut fœnum tectorum, quod priusquam evellatur exaruit:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.