PSALMS 129      Other translations  -  previous  -  next  -  meaning  -  Psalms  -  BM Home  -  Full Page

PSALM 129

A Song of degrees.

1. Many a time have they distressed me from my youth, may Israel now say:
2. Many a time have they distressed me from my youth, yet, they have not prevailed against me.
3. The ploughers have ploughed upon my back; they have made long their furrows.
4. jehovah is just! He has cut to pieces the cords of the wicked.
5. May all who hate Zion be put to shame and driven backward!
6. May they be like grass upon the house-top, which withers before it is plucked up.
7. With which the mower fills not his hand, nor he who binds sheaves his bosom.
8. Nor do they who pass by say, May the blessing of jehovah be upon you! We bless you in the name of jehovah!

Verse 6. May they be like grass upon the house-top, which withers before it is plucked up. By green grass is signified the scientific truth, which is alive, but by grass burnt up or withered, the scientific false, which is dead. When truth and good, which come out of heaven, have not a receptacle in knowledges and scientifics with man, but evils and falses which are from hell, then scientifics are not alive, but dead, and correspond to grass withered and burnt up; the same is the case with man himself, for the quality of man is such as the quality of living knowledges and scientifics belonging to him; for from the sciences which live, or are alive, he derives intelligence, whereas from the sciences which do not live, he has no intelligence, and if they are dead in consequence of the confirmation of falses by them, he derives thence insanity and folly: such a man, from correspondence, is, in the Word, compared to grass, and is also called grass, as in the following passages: in Isaiah, "The inhabitants are become as the herb of the field, the pulse of grass, the grass of the house-tops, and as the corn blasted before it be grown up," Isaiah 37:27; 2 Kings 19:26; and in David, "The wicked shall be suddenly cut off as the grass, and shall decay as the pulse of the herb," Psalm 32:2; again, "As for man, his days are as the grass, as the flower of the field so he flourishes," Psalm 103:15; and again, "The haters of Zion shall be as the grass on the house-tops, which withers before it is plucked," Psalm 129:6; again in Isaiah, "The glory of jehovah shall be revealed, and they shall see: the voice said, cry, and he said what shall I cry; all flesh is grass, and all the holiness thereof as the flower of the field; the grass withers, and the flower fades, because the wind of jehovah breathes upon it; truly, the people is grass, the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our god shall stand for ever," Isaiah 40:5, 6, 7, 8.

These things are said concerning the advent of the lord, and the revelation of Divine truth then to take place from him, which is understood by the glory of jehovah shall be revealed, and they shall see; that then there would be no scientific truth nor spiritual truth with man, is signified by all flesh is grass, and all the holiness thereof as the flower of the field, the grass withers and the flower fades, grass denoting scientific truth, and the flower of the field denoting spiritual truth; that man is of such a nature and quality, is understood by all flesh is grass, and by truly the people is grass, the grass withers, all flesh denoting every man, and the people, those who were in truths but are now in falses. AE 507.

Verse 7. With which the mower fills not his hand, nor he who binds sheaves his bosom. What is specifically signified by bruising and grinding cannot be known, unless it be known how the case is with man in respect to the goods and truths which are signified by wheat, barley-meal, fine flour, oil, frankincense, and spices, when they are arranged for uses; when grinding is predicated of the goods which are signified by wheat or barley, then by grinding is signified the arrangement and production of good into truths, and thereby application to uses; good also, in no case, puts itself forth into uses except by truths, it is arranged into truths and is thereby qualified, for good, unless it be arranged into truths, has not any quality, and when it is arranged into truths, it is then arranged into series in application to things according to uses, into which things good enters as the affection of love, whence comes what is grateful, pleasant, and delightful. What is meant by arrangement into series, it may also be expedient briefly to explain; truths are said to be arranged into series, when they are arranged according to the form of heaven, in which form the angelic societies are. The series into which truths are arranged with the good, and the series into which false principles are arranged with the evil, are signified in the Word by sheaves and bundles, Psalm 126:6, 129:7. AC 10303.