Skip to main content
Psalmlog Logo
Read

Psalm 129:6

Let them be as the grass on the housetops, which withers before it grows up,

4The LORD is righteous. He has cut apart the cords of the wicked.
5Let them be disappointed and turned backward, all those who hate Zion.
6Let them be as the grass on the housetops, which withers before it grows up,
7with which the reaper doesn’t fill his hand, nor he who binds sheaves, his bosom.
8Neither do those who go by say, “The blessing of the LORD be on you. We bless you in the LORD’s name.”
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →
← Psalm 129:5Psalm 129:7 →
Notice

Grass withering on a roof makes this prayer severe: the singer asks that those who hate Zion perish before they flourish.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What troubles you about asking for Zion’s enemies to wither like rooftop grass?

Write on this

How does YHWH’s righteousness in verse 4 shape your reading of this severe prayer?

Write on this
Connect

Where else Scripture says this

7 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
1 Peter 1:24For, “All flesh is like grass, and all of man’s glory like the flower in the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls;Both compare people to withering grass; Peter speaks of all flesh, while the psalm directs its prayer against Zion’s enemies.
Psalm 37:2For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither like the green herb.Both compare people to grass that withers, describing how their growth comes to an end.
Isaiah 37:27Therefore their inhabitants had little power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were like the grass of the field, and like the green herb, like the grass …Both use rooftop grass and growth cut short to portray people whose strength cannot sustain them.
Psalm 92:7though the wicked spring up as the grass, and all the evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever.Both compare the wicked to grass whose growth ends in destruction, though Psalm 129 takes the form of a prayer.
Matthew 13:6When the sun had risen, they were scorched. Because they had no root, they withered away.Both describe withering plants; Matthew names the lack of roots, while the psalm uses rooftop grass to portray Zion’s enemies.
2 Kings 19:26Therefore their inhabitants had little power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were like the grass of the field and like the green herb, like the grass …Both describe people through the image of rooftop grass that fails to reach full growth.
Jeremiah 17:5–6The LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man, relies on strength of flesh, and whose heart departs from the LORD.Both concern people under judgment; Jeremiah condemns trust in human strength, while the psalm prays against those who hate Zion.
Where this verse fits

Injustice and anger. sermon or Bible study notes.

What the Bible says about anger →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Name one injustice before God and ask him to end it

prayeroncelight
Encouragement

This prayer entrusts judgment on Zion’s enemies to God. You need not soften its severity, or turn it against a personal rival: YHWH is righteous.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 129:6. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 129 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).