Psalm 129:3
New International Version
Plowmen have plowed my back and made their furrows long.

New Living Translation
My back is covered with cuts, as if a farmer had plowed long furrows.

English Standard Version
The plowers plowed upon my back; they made long their furrows.”

Berean Standard Bible
The plowmen plowed over my back; they made their furrows long.

King James Bible
The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows.

New King James Version
The plowers plowed on my back; They made their furrows long.”

New American Standard Bible
“The plowers plowed upon my back; They lengthened their furrows.”

NASB 1995
“The plowers plowed upon my back; They lengthened their furrows.”

NASB 1977
“The plowers plowed upon my back; They lengthened their furrows.”

Legacy Standard Bible
The plowers plowed upon my back; They lengthened their furrows.”

Amplified Bible
“The [enemies, like] plowers plowed on my back; They made their furrows [of suffering] long [in Israel].”

Christian Standard Bible
Plowmen plowed over my back; they made their furrows long.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Plowmen plowed over my back; they made their furrows long.

American Standard Version
The plowers plowed upon my back; They made long their furrows.

Contemporary English Version
though my back is like a field that has just been plowed."

English Revised Version
The plowers plowed upon my back; they made long their furrows.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
They have plowed my back [like farmers plow fields]. They made long slashes [like furrows]."

Good News Translation
They cut deep wounds in my back and made it like a plowed field.

International Standard Version
Wicked people ploughed over my back, creating long-lasting wounds."

Majority Standard Bible
The plowmen plowed over my back; they made their furrows long.

NET Bible
The plowers plowed my back; they made their furrows long.

New Heart English Bible
The plowers plowed on my back. They made their furrows long.

Webster's Bible Translation
The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows.

World English Bible
The plowers plowed on my back. They made their furrows long.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
Plowers have plowed over my back, "" They have made their furrows long.

Young's Literal Translation
Over my back have ploughers ploughed, They have made long their furrows.

Smith's Literal Translation
They ploughing, ploughed upon my back: they made long to their furrows.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
The wicked have wrought upon my back: they have lengthened their iniquity.

Catholic Public Domain Version
The sinners have made fabrications behind my back. They have prolonged their iniquity.

New American Bible
Upon my back the plowers plowed, as they traced their long furrows.

New Revised Standard Version
The plowers plowed on my back; they made their furrows long.”
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
They have scourged me upon my back; they have made long their oppression.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
The scourgers scourged upon my back and prolonged their affliction.
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
The plowers plowed upon my back; They made long their furrows.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
The sinners wrought upon my back: they prolonged their iniquity.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Cords of the Wicked
2many a time they have persecuted me from my youth, but they have not prevailed against me. 3The plowmen plowed over my back; they made their furrows long. 4The LORD is righteous; He has cut me from the cords of the wicked.…

Cross References
Isaiah 50:6
I offered My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who tore out My beard. I did not hide My face from scorn and spittle.

Isaiah 53:5
But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

Micah 3:12
Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mount a wooded ridge.

Jeremiah 12:10
Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard; they have trampled My plot of ground. They have turned My pleasant field into a desolate wasteland.

Lamentations 3:34
To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land,

Lamentations 3:45
You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.

Isaiah 51:23
I will place it in the hands of your tormentors, who told you: ‘Lie down, so we can walk over you,’ so that you made your back like the ground, like a street to be traversed.”

Isaiah 52:14
Just as many were appalled at Him—His appearance was disfigured beyond that of any man, and His form was marred beyond human likeness—

Jeremiah 6:3
Shepherds and their flocks will come against her; they will pitch their tents all around her, each tending his own portion:

Ezekiel 34:8
‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, because My flock lacks a shepherd and has become prey and food for every wild beast, and because My shepherds did not search for My flock but fed themselves instead,

Matthew 27:26
So Pilate released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed Him over to be crucified.

John 19:1
Then Pilate took Jesus and had Him flogged.

1 Peter 2:24
He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”

Hebrews 12:2
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

2 Corinthians 11:24-25
Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. / Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea.


Treasury of Scripture

The plowers plowed on my back: they made long their furrows.

the plowers

Psalm 141:7
Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth, as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth.

Isaiah 51:23
But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.

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Psalm 129
1. An exhortation to praise God for saving Israel in their great afflictions
5. The haters of the church are cursed














The plowmen
This phrase evokes imagery of laborers working the fields, a common sight in ancient agrarian societies. In the Hebrew context, "plowmen" (חֹרְשִׁים, choreshim) refers to those who till the ground, preparing it for planting. Spiritually, this can symbolize the forces or individuals who work against the people of God, attempting to sow seeds of discord or oppression. Historically, Israel often faced adversaries who sought to disrupt their spiritual and physical well-being, much like plowmen disrupting the soil.

plowed
The act of plowing involves breaking up the soil, which can be seen as a metaphor for the suffering and trials endured by the faithful. The Hebrew root (חרש, charash) implies cutting or engraving, suggesting a deep and painful process. This reflects the historical experiences of Israel, who faced numerous invasions and captivities, yet remained resilient. Spiritually, it speaks to the believer's journey through trials that, while painful, prepare the heart for growth and fruitfulness.

over my back
This phrase personalizes the suffering, indicating a direct and intimate experience of pain. The imagery of a back being plowed suggests severe oppression and affliction. In the Hebrew tradition, the back is often symbolic of strength and burden-bearing. Historically, this can be seen in the context of Israel's slavery in Egypt or the Babylonian exile, where the nation bore heavy burdens. For the Christian, it resonates with the call to bear one's cross, enduring hardship for the sake of Christ.

made their furrows long
Furrows are the trenches made by a plow, and their length signifies prolonged suffering. The Hebrew word for furrows (מַעֲנִית, ma'anit) suggests a deep and lasting impact. This can be seen historically in the long periods of trial faced by Israel, such as the 40 years in the wilderness or the 70 years of Babylonian captivity. Spiritually, it speaks to the enduring nature of trials in the believer's life, yet also hints at the hope of eventual deliverance and the fruit that comes from perseverance.

(3) Furrows.--The Hebrew word only occurs once besides, in 1Samuel 14:14, where the margin renders as here, furrow--a rendering which plainly there is not intelligible. "Half a furrow of an acre of land," as a space in which twenty men were killed, gives no clear idea to the mind. But Dr. J. G. Wettstein, in his excursus at the end of Delitzsch's Commentary, explains the ma'an to be the strip of ground which the ploughman takes in hand at one time, and round which consequently at the end of each furrow the plough turns. Delitzsch's "furrow-strip," therefore, more exactly reproduces the word, though here doubtless it is used with a poetic freedom and may be translated furrow. The double image, suggesting the lash given to a slave, and at the same time the actual and terrible imprints of oppression left on the country as well as the race, is as striking as poetry ever produced. It, in fact, combines two separate prophetic figures, Isaiah 1:6; Isaiah 51:23.

Verse 3. - The plowers plowed upon my back. A strong metaphor, which does not elsewhere occur. The idea is perhaps taken from the cruel treatment of captives in those days, who, in certain cases, were "put under saws and harrows of iron" (2 Samuel 12:31), or, as it is elsewhere expressed, "threshed with threshing instruments of iron" (Amos 1:3). They made long their furrows; i.e. "lengthened out their tortures."

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
The plowmen
חָרְשׁ֣וּ (ḥā·rə·šū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 2790: To cut in, engrave, plow, devise

plowed
חֹרְשִׁ֑ים (ḥō·rə·šîm)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural
Strong's 2790: To cut in, engrave, plow, devise

over
עַל־ (‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

my back;
גַּ֭בִּי (gab·bî)
Noun - common singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 1354: The back, the top, rim, a boss, a vault, arch of eye, bulwarks

they made their furrows
לְמַעֲנִיתָֽם׃ (lə·ma·‘ă·nî·ṯām)
Preposition-l | Noun - feminine plural construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 4618: A field for plowing

long.
הֶ֝אֱרִ֗יכוּ (he·’ĕ·rî·ḵū)
Verb - Hifil - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 748: To be, long


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OT Poetry: Psalm 129:3 The plowers plowed on my back (Psalm Ps Psa.)
Psalm 129:2
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