Psalms 129 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
Looks back over Israel's whole history, from Egypt onward, and took its present form after the exile, around 500 to 400 BC
Location
Israel, with images taken from ploughed fields and from flat mud rooftops
Audience
The assembled people of Israel, answering a worship leader
Situation
The nation says that enemies have attacked it since its youth but have never finished it off, describing the wounds as furrows ploughed across its back. The psalm then asks that those who hate Jerusalem end up like grass sprouting on a roof, which withers before anyone can cut it.
Key Background
Israel's youth means its beginnings as a people, above all the slavery in Egypt, and the list of later attackers would include Assyria, Babylon and neighbouring kingdoms. Ploughing with an ox-drawn wooden blade left deep parallel grooves, which makes the picture of a whipped back both vivid and specific to farm life. Houses had flat roofs sealed with packed earth, so seeds blown up there sprouted after rain and died within days for lack of soil, and reapers traditionally exchanged blessings at harvest, a courtesy no one would ever offer over rooftop weeds.