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Up from my youth, may Israel say Persecutors punished

Isaac Watts's setting of Psalm 129, printed in 1719 in The Psalms of David Imitated, where he set the psalms "in the language of the New Testament".

WRITTEN BY

Isaac Watts 1674–1748

PRINTED

1719 The Psalms of David Imitated · no. 129

METRE

Not recorded 9 stanzas

WRITTEN ON

Psalm 129 the verse printed above it

The hymn, and the Scripture in it

All 9 stanzas as Watts printed them, with the verses their lines echo beside them. Point at a line to join it to its verse; click to read the passage.

SHARED WORDSthe verse shares the line's wording ECHOproposed by an AI model, confirmed by a separate check Not the author's own notes

AMONG THE SCRIPTURES

The stanzas at the centre; around them, every book its heading and its echoes come from, Old Testament on the left and New on the right. Choose a stanza or a book.

a line echoes this verse its heading or an echo comes from here

STANZA I

Up from my youth, may Israel say

Up from my youth, may Israel say,

Have I been nurs'd in tears;

My griefs were constant as the day,

And tedious as the years.

The psalm it sets

Watts made this hymn from Psalm 129, "in the language of the New Testament": a paraphrase, not a translation. The line that comes closest to it is marked.

1Many a time they have persecuted me from my youth— let Israel now declare— 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. … 4 more verses PSALM 129 · ITS FIRST VERSES · BEREAN STANDARD BIBLE READ PSALM 129

Up from my youth, may Israel say, Have I been nurs'd in tears; My griefs were constant as the day, And tedious as the years. STANZA I

Its place in the book

Watts's psalms run from Psalm 1 to Psalm 150, several settings to many psalms: 367 hymns. This is number 129. Point at a tick to see the hymn; click it to open that hymn.

NO. 129 · ISAAC WATTS · THIS HYMN Up from my youth, may Israel say

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