Those Hating Zion Have Afflicted Me

Those hating Zion have afflicted me

Versifier: Marie J. Post (1985)
Tune: CLIFF TOWN
Published in 1 hymnal

Audio files: MIDI
Representative text cannot be shown for this hymn due to copyright.

Versifier: Marie J. Post

Marie (Tuinstra) Post (b. Jenison, MI, 1919; d. Grand Rapids, MI, 1990) While attending Dutch church services as a child, Post was first introduced to the Genevan psalms, which influenced her later writings. She attended Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she studied with Henry Zylstra. From 1940 to 1942 she taught at the Muskegon Christian Junior High School. For over thirty years Post wrote poetry for the Grand Rapids Press and various church periodicals. She gave many readings of her poetry in churches and schools and has been published in a number of journals and poetry anthologies. Two important collections of her poems are I Never Visited an Artist Before (1977) and the posthumous Sandals, Sails, and Saints (1993). A member… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Those hating Zion have afflicted me
Title: Those Hating Zion Have Afflicted Me
Versifier: Marie J. Post (1985)
Meter: 10.10.10.10
Language: English
Copyright: Text © 1987, CRC Publications

Notes

Praise for God's preservation of his people, and a prayer that all who threaten them may come to nothing.

Scripture References:
st. 1 = vv. 1-2
st. 2 = vv. 3-5
st. 3 = vv. 6-8

Psalm 129 is another of the fifteen "Songs of Ascents" (120-134) the Israelites sang as they went up to worship at the temple in Jerusalem. This post-exilic psalm calls on Israel to praise the LORD for preserving them, in spite of the oppression they have suffered from hostile powers throughout their history (vv. 1-4; st. 1-2). Then follows a prayer that the enemies of Zion may wither before they reach maturity, like grass that springs up where there is no depth of soil and no water to sustain it (vv. 5-8; st. 2-3). In focus is the great issue of human history: whether God's people will endure or whether the forces arrayed against them will have their way in the world. While Psalms 127 and 128 are psalms of blessing, 129 is a prayer asking God to withhold his blessing on enemies (v. 8). Churches who experience persecution, who understand the saying “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord” (Rom. 12:19; Deut. 32:35, RSV) will want to use this psalm. Marie J. Post (PHH 5) versified Psalm 129 in 1985 for the Psalter Hymnal.

Liturgical Use:
Whenever the Christian church experiences or reflects on God's preserving care in the face of opposition or persecution. North American Christians may want to sing this psalm in solidarity with other Christians who suffer severely.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Tune

CLIFF TOWN

Erik Routley (PHH 31) wrote CLIFF TOWN in 1943 to the text "Not Only for the Goodly Fruit-Trees Tall" by E. S. Armitage; the tune was first published in Congregational Praise (1951). CLIFF TOWN is named after the Congregational Church at Southend-on-Sea, England. It is fitted with a harmonization su…

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Instances

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Psalter Hymnal (Gray) #129

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