the Second Week after Easter
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Good News Translation
Psalms 129:3
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
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- InternationalParallel Translations
Plowmen plowed over my back;they made their furrows long.
The plowers plowed on my back. They made their furrows long.
The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows.
The plowers plowed upon my back; they made long their furrows."
Like farmers plowing, they plowed over my back, making long wounds.
The plowers plowed my back; they made their furrows long.
"The [enemies, like] plowers plowed on my back; They made their furrows [of suffering] long [in Israel]."
"The plowers plowed upon my back; They lengthened their furrows."
The plowers plowed on my back. They made their furrows long.
The plowers plowed vpon my backe, and made long furrowes.
The plowers plowed upon my back;They lengthened their furrows."
The plowmen plowed over my back; they made their furrows long.
though my back is like a field that has just been plowed."
The plowmen plowed on my back; wounding me with long furrows.
The ploughers ploughed upon my back; they made long their furrows.
They beat me until I had deep cuts. My back looked like a freshly plowed field.
They have scourged me upon my back; they have made long their oppression.
On my back plowmen have plowed. They have made their furrows long."
The plowers plowed on my back; they made their furrows long.
The plowers plowed vpo my backe, & made loge forowes.
The plowers plowed upon my back; They made long their furrows.
The ploughmen were ploughing on my back; long were the wounds they made.
The plowers plowed upon my back; they made long their furrows.
The plowers plowed vpon my backe: they made long their furrowes.
The plowemen plowed vpon my backe: they made long forrowes.
The sinners wrought upon my back: they prolonged their iniquity.
The plowers plowed upon my back; they made long their furrows.
Synneris forgeden on my bak; thei maden long her wickidnesse.
The plowers plowed on my back; They made long their furrows.
The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows.
The plowers plowed on my back; They made their furrows long."
My back is covered with cuts, as if a farmer had plowed long furrows.
Those who plow have plowed my back. And they have made their ditches long."
The plowers plowed on my back; they made their furrows long."
Upon my back, have ploughmen ploughed, They have lengthened their furrow!
(128-3) The wicked have wrought upon my back: they have lengthened their iniquity.
The plowers plowed upon my back; they made long their furrows."
Over my back have ploughers ploughed, They have made long their furrows.
"The plowers plowed upon my back; They lengthened their furrows."
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
The plowers: Psalms 141:7, Isaiah 51:23
Reciprocal: Job 39:10 - General Psalms 94:5 - break Isaiah 9:12 - devour Israel Mark 15:15 - when John 19:1 - scourged
Gill's Notes on the Bible
The ploughers ploughed upon my back,.... "Sinners", as the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions, render it; such that plough iniquity, and sow wickedness, Job 4:8; which may be understood of their carrying Israel captive, when they put yokes and bonds upon their necks, as upon oxen when they plough, as Arama interprets it; or it may design the destruction of their high places, signified by the back, such as the temple, the royal palace, and houses of their nobles, burnt with fire; yea, it was predicted that Zion should be ploughed as a field, Micah 3:12; and the Jews say that Turnus Rufus, the Roman general, as they call him, did plough up Jerusalem. The Syriac version is, "they whipped" their whips or scourges; with which many of the Israelites were scourged in the times of the Maccabees, Hebrews 11:36. And the Messiah himself, who gave his back to the smiters, and was buffeted and scourged by them, Isaiah 50:6; and many of his apostles and followers, Matthew 10:17. The Targum renders it
"upon my body;''
and Aben Ezra says the phrase is expressive of contempt and humiliation, and compares with it Isaiah 51:23;
they made long their furrows; which signify afflictions, and the pain their enemies put them to, and the distress they gave them; as no affliction is joyous, but grievous, but like the rending and tearing up the earth with the plough; and also the length and duration of afflictions; such were the afflictions of Israel in Egypt and in Babylon, and of the church of God under Rome Pagan and Papal; but, as the longest furrows have an end, so have the most lasting afflictions. The Syriac version is, "they prolonged their humiliation", or "affliction"; Kimchi says the meaning is,
"they would give us no rest from servitude and bondage.''
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
The plowers plowed upon my back - The comparison here is undoubtedly taken from the “plowing” of land, and the idea is that the sufferings which they had endured were such as would be well represented by a plow passing over a field, tearing up the sod; piercing deep; and producing long rows or furrows. The direct allusion would seem to be to stripes inflicted on the back, as if a plow had been made to pass over it; and the meaning is, that they had been subjected to sufferings as slaves or criminals were when the lash cut deep into the flesh. Probably the immediate thing in the mind of the psalmist was the hard bondage of the children of Israel in Egypt, when they were subjected to all the evils of servitude.
They made long their furrows - On my back. The word used here, and rendered “made long” - ארך 'ârak, means to make long, to prolong, to extend in a right line, and it may be used either in the sense of making long as to extent or space, or making long in regard to time, prolonging. The latter would seem to be the meaning here, as it is difficult to see in what sense it could be said that stripes inflicted on the back could be made long. They might, however, be continued and repeated; the sufferings might be prolonged sufferings as well as deep. It was a work of long-continued oppression and wrong.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Psalms 129:3. The plowers plowed upon my back — It is possible that this mode of expression may signify that the people, during their captivity, were cruelly used by scourging, c. or it may be a sort of proverbial mode of expression for the most cruel usage. There really appears here to be a reference to a yoke, as if they had actually been yoked to the plough, or to some kind of carriages, and been obliged to draw like beasts of burden. In this way St. Jerome understood the passage; and this has the more likelihood, as in the next verse God is represented as cutting them off from these draughts.
