Wednesday's Word: The Blessing Of The Lord Be Upon Israel

 

Many a time and much have they afflicted me

 from my youth up-let Israel now say-

Many a time and much have they afflicted

 me from my youth up,

yet they have not prevailed against me.

On May 14, 1948  David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the establishment
 of the new state of Israel.  He served as the nation's first prime minister. 
Image courtesy/VINTAGE ISRAELI POSTERS

The plowers  plowed upon my back;

 they made their long furrows.

The Lord is uncompromisingly righteous;

He has cut asunder the thick cords 

by which the wicked enslaved us.

Let them all be put to shame

and turn backward who hate Zion.

Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, 

which withers before it grows up.

With which the mower fills not his hand, 

nor the binder of sheaves his bosom-

While those who go by do not say,

The blessing of the Lord be upon you!

We bless you in the name of the Lord!"

Psalm 129
A Song of Ascents

"...to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
(Isaiah 61: 3)

A child survivor of the Holocaust 

Image courtesy/ Eisenhower Presidential Library

"Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say.
In her present hour of trial, she may remember her former afflictions and
speak of them for her comfort, drawing from them the assurance that
He who has been with her for so long will not desert her in the end."
-Treasury of David