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Psalm 120[a]

A song of ascents.[b]

120 In my distress I cried out
to the Lord and he answered me.
I said,[c] “O Lord, rescue me[d]
from those who lie with their lips[e]
and those who deceive with their tongues.[f]
How will he severely punish you,
you deceptive talker?[g]
Here’s how![h] With the sharp arrows of warriors,
with arrowheads forged over the hot coals.[i]
How miserable I am.[j]
For I have lived temporarily[k] in Meshech;
I have resided among the tents of Kedar.[l]
For too long I have had to reside
with those who hate[m] peace.
I am committed to peace,[n]
but when I speak, they want to make war.[o]

Psalm 121[p]

A song of ascents.[q]

121 I look up[r] toward the hills.
From where[s] does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,[t]
the Creator[u] of heaven and earth.
May he not allow your foot to slip.
May your Protector[v] not sleep.[w]
Look! Israel’s Protector[x]
does not sleep or slumber.
The Lord is your protector;
the Lord is the shade at your right hand.
The sun will not harm you by day,
or the moon by night.[y]
The Lord will protect you from all harm;
he will protect your life.
The Lord will protect you in all you do,[z]
now and forevermore.

Psalm 122[aa]

A song of ascents;[ab] by David.

122 I was glad because[ac] they said to me,
“We will go to the Lord’s temple.”
Our feet are[ad] standing
inside your gates, O Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is a city designed
to accommodate an assembly.[ae]
The tribes go up[af] there,[ag]
the tribes of the Lord,
where it is required that Israel
give thanks to the name of the Lord.[ah]
Indeed,[ai] the leaders sit[aj] there on thrones and make legal decisions,
on the thrones of the house of David.[ak]
Pray[al] for the peace of Jerusalem.
May those who love her prosper.[am]
May there be peace inside your defenses,
and prosperity[an] inside your fortresses.[ao]
For the sake of my brothers and my neighbors
I will say, “May there be peace in you.”
For the sake of the temple of the Lord our God
I will pray for you to prosper.[ap]

Psalm 123[aq]

A song of ascents.[ar]

123 I look up[as] toward you,
the one enthroned[at] in heaven.
Look, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a female servant look to the hand of her mistress,[au]
so our eyes will look to the Lord, our God, until he shows us favor.
Show us favor, O Lord, show us favor!
For we have had our fill of humiliation, and then some.[av]
We have had our fill[aw]
of the taunts of the self-assured,
of the contempt of the proud.

Psalm 124[ax]

A song of ascents;[ay] by David.

124 “If the Lord had not been on our side”—
let Israel say this.—
if the Lord had not been on our side,
when men attacked us,[az]
they would have swallowed us alive,
when their anger raged against us.
The water would have overpowered us;
the current[ba] would have overwhelmed[bb] us.[bc]
The raging water
would have overwhelmed us.[bd]
The Lord deserves praise,[be]
for[bf] he did not hand us over as prey to their teeth.
We escaped with our lives,[bg] like a bird from a hunter’s snare.
The snare broke, and we escaped.
Our deliverer is the Lord,[bh]
the Creator[bi] of heaven and earth.

Psalm 125[bj]

A song of ascents.[bk]

125 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be moved and will endure forever.
As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds his people,
now and forevermore.
Indeed,[bl] the scepter of a wicked king[bm] will not settle[bn]
upon the allotted land of the godly.
Otherwise the godly
might do what is wrong.[bo]
Do good, O Lord, to those who are good,
to the morally upright.[bp]
As for those who are bent on traveling a sinful path,[bq]
may the Lord remove them,[br] along with those who behave wickedly.[bs]
May Israel experience peace.[bt]

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 120:1 sn Psalm 120. The genre and structure of this psalm are uncertain. It begins like a thanksgiving psalm, with a brief notice that God has heard the psalmist’s prayer for help and has intervened. But v. 2 is a petition for help, followed by a taunt directed toward enemies (vv. 3-4) and a lament (vv. 5-7). Perhaps vv. 2-7 recall the psalmist’s prayer when he cried out to the Lord.
  2. Psalm 120:1 sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.
  3. Psalm 120:2 tn The words “I said” are supplied in the translation for clarification. See the introductory note for this psalm.
  4. Psalm 120:2 tn Or “my life.”
  5. Psalm 120:2 tn Heb “from a lip of falsehood.”
  6. Psalm 120:2 tn Heb “from a tongue of deception.”
  7. Psalm 120:3 tn Heb “What will he give to you, and what will he add to you, O tongue of deception?” The psalmist addresses his deceptive enemies. The Lord is the understood subject of the verbs “give” and “add.” The second part of the question echoes a standard curse formula, “thus the Lord/God will do…and thus he will add” (see Ruth 1:17; 1 Sam 3:17; 14:44; 20:13; 25:22; 2 Sam 3:9, 35; 19:13; 1 Kgs 2:23; 2 Kgs 6:31).
  8. Psalm 120:4 tn The words “here’s how” are supplied in the translation as a clarification. In v. 4 the psalmist answers the question he raises in v. 3.
  9. Psalm 120:4 tn Heb “with coals of the wood of the broom plant.” The wood of the broom plant was used to make charcoal, which in turn was used to fuel the fire used to forge the arrowheads.
  10. Psalm 120:5 tn Or “woe to me.” The Hebrew term אוֹיָה (ʾoyah, “woe”) which occurs only here, is an alternate form of אוֹי (ʾoy).
  11. Psalm 120:5 tn Heb “I live as a resident foreigner.”
  12. Psalm 120:5 sn Meshech was located in central Anatolia (modern Turkey). Kedar was located in the desert to east-southeast of Israel. Because of the reference to Kedar, it is possible that Ps 120:5 refers to a different Meshech, perhaps one associated with the individual mentioned as a descendant of Aram in 1 Chr 1:17. (However, the LXX in 1 Chr 1:17 follows the parallel text in Gen 10:23, which reads “Mash,” not Meshech.) It is, of course, impossible that the psalmist could have been living in both the far north and the east at the same time. For this reason one must assume that he is recalling his experience as a wanderer among the nations or that he is using the geographical terms metaphorically and sarcastically to suggest that the enemies who surround him are like the barbarians who live in these distant regions. For a discussion of the problem, see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 146.
  13. Psalm 120:6 tn The singular participial form probably has a representative function here. The psalmist envisions the typical hater of peace who represents the entire category of such individuals.
  14. Psalm 120:7 tn Heb “I, peace.”
  15. Psalm 120:7 tn Heb “they [are] for war.”
  16. Psalm 121:1 sn Psalm 121. The psalm affirms that the Lord protects his people Israel. Unless the psalmist addresses an observer (note the second person singular forms in vv. 3-8), it appears there are two or three speakers represented in the psalm, depending on how one takes v. 3. The translation assumes that speaker one talks in vv. 1-2, that speaker two responds to him with a prayer in v. 3 (this assumes the verbs are true jussives of prayer), and that speaker three responds with words of assurance in vv. 4-8. If the verbs in v. 3 are taken as a rhetorical use of the jussive, then there are two speakers. Verses 3-8 are speaker two’s response to the words of speaker one. See the note on the word “sleep” at the end of v. 3.
  17. Psalm 121:1 sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.
  18. Psalm 121:1 tn Heb “I lift my eyes.”
  19. Psalm 121:1 tn The Hebrew term מֵאַיִן (meʾayin) is interrogative, not relative, in function. Rather than directly stating that his source of help descends from the hills, the psalmist is asking, “From where does my help come?” Nevertheless, the first line does indicate that he is looking toward the hills for help, probably indicating that he is looking up toward the sky, or up toward the temple, in anticipation of supernatural intervention. The psalmist assumes the dramatic role of one needing help. He answers his own question in v. 2.
  20. Psalm 121:2 tn Heb “my help [is] from with the Lord.”
  21. Psalm 121:2 tn Or “Maker.”
  22. Psalm 121:3 tn Heb “the one who guards you.”
  23. Psalm 121:3 tn The prefixed verbal forms following the negative particle אַל (ʾal) appear to be jussives. As noted above, if they are taken as true jussives of prayer, then the speaker in v. 3 would appear to be distinct from both the speaker in vv. 1-2 and the speaker in vv. 4-8. However, according to GKC 322 §109.e), the jussives are used rhetorically here “to express the conviction that something cannot or should not happen.” In this case one should probably translate, “he will not allow your foot to slip, your protector will not sleep,” and understand just one speaker in vv. 4-8. But none of the examples in GKC for this use of the jussive are compelling.
  24. Psalm 121:4 tn Heb “the one who guards Israel.”
  25. Psalm 121:6 sn One hardly thinks of the moon’s rays as being physically harmful, like those of the sun. The reference to the moon may simply lend poetic balance to the verse, but it is likely that the verse reflects an ancient, primitive belief that the moon could have an adverse effect on the mind (note the English expression “moonstruck,” which reflects such a belief). Another possibility is that the sun and moon stand by metonymy for harmful forces characteristic of the day and night, respectively.
  26. Psalm 121:8 tn Heb “your going out and your coming in.”
  27. Psalm 122:1 sn Psalm 122. The psalmist expresses his love for Jerusalem and promises to pray for the city’s security.
  28. Psalm 122:1 sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.
  29. Psalm 122:1 tn Heb “in the ones saying to me.” After the verb שָׂמַח (samakh), the preposition ב (bet) usually introduces the reason for joy.
  30. Psalm 122:2 tn Or “were.”
  31. Psalm 122:3 tc Heb “Jerusalem, which is built like a city which is joined to her together.” The meaning of the Hebrew text is unclear. Many regard this as a description of the compact way in which the city was designed or constructed. The translation assumes an emendation of the verb חֻבְּרָה (khubberah, “is joined”) to a noun חֶבְרָה (khevrah, “association; company”). The text then reads literally, “Jerusalem, which is built like a city which has a company together.” This in turn can be taken as a reference to Jerusalem’s role as a city where people congregated for religious festivals and other civic occasions (see vv. 4-5).
  32. Psalm 122:4 tn Or “went up.”
  33. Psalm 122:4 tn Heb “which is where the tribes go up.”
  34. Psalm 122:4 tn Heb “[it is] a statute for Israel to give thanks to the name of the Lord.”
  35. Psalm 122:5 tn Or “for.”
  36. Psalm 122:5 tn Or “sat.”
  37. Psalm 122:5 tn Heb “Indeed, there they sit [on] thrones for judgment, [on] thrones [belonging] to the house of David.”
  38. Psalm 122:6 tn Heb “ask [for].”
  39. Psalm 122:6 tn Or “be secure.”
  40. Psalm 122:7 tn or “security.”
  41. Psalm 122:7 tn The psalmist uses second feminine singular pronominal forms to address personified Jerusalem.
  42. Psalm 122:9 tn Heb “I will seek good for you.” The psalmist will seek Jerusalem’s “good” through prayer.
  43. Psalm 123:1 sn Psalm 123. The psalmist, speaking for God’s people, acknowledges his dependence on God in the midst of a crisis.
  44. Psalm 123:1 sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.
  45. Psalm 123:1 tn Heb “I lift my eyes.”
  46. Psalm 123:1 tn Heb “sitting.” The Hebrew verb יָשַׁב (yashav) is here used metonymically of “sitting enthroned” (see Pss 9:7; 29:10; 55:19; 102:12).
  47. Psalm 123:2 sn Servants look to their master for food, shelter, and other basic needs.
  48. Psalm 123:3 tn Heb “for greatly we are filled [with] humiliation.”
  49. Psalm 123:4 tn Heb “greatly our soul is full to it.”
  50. Psalm 124:1 sn Psalm 124. Israel acknowledges that the Lord delivered them from certain disaster.
  51. Psalm 124:1 sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.
  52. Psalm 124:2 tn Heb “rose up against us.”
  53. Psalm 124:4 tn Or “stream.”
  54. Psalm 124:4 tn Heb “would have passed over.”
  55. Psalm 124:4 tn Heb “our being.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).
  56. Psalm 124:5 tn Heb “then they would have passed over our being, the raging waters.”
  57. Psalm 124:6 tn Heb “blessed [be] the Lord.”
  58. Psalm 124:6 tn Heb “[the one] who.”
  59. Psalm 124:7 tn Heb “our life escaped.”
  60. Psalm 124:8 tn Heb “our help [is] in the name of the Lord.”
  61. Psalm 124:8 tn Or “Maker.”
  62. Psalm 125:1 sn Psalm 125. The psalmist affirms his confidence in the Lord’s protection and justice.
  63. Psalm 125:1 sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.
  64. Psalm 125:3 tn Or “for.”
  65. Psalm 125:3 tn Heb “a scepter of wickedness.” The “scepter” symbolizes royal authority; when collocated with “wickedness” the phrase refers to an oppressive foreign conqueror.
  66. Psalm 125:3 tn Or “rest.”
  67. Psalm 125:3 tn Heb “so that the godly might not stretch out their hands in wrongdoing.” A wicked king who sets a sinful example can have an adverse moral and ethical effect on the people he rules.
  68. Psalm 125:4 tn Heb “pure of heart.” The “heart” is here viewed as the seat of one’s moral character and motives. The “pure of heart” are God’s faithful followers who trust in and love the Lord and, as a result, experience his deliverance (see Pss 7:10; 11:2; 32:11; 36:10; 64:10; 94:15; 97:11).
  69. Psalm 125:5 tn Heb “and the ones making their paths twisted.” A sinful lifestyle is compared to a twisting, winding road.
  70. Psalm 125:5 tn Heb “lead them away.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive of prayer here (note the prayers directly before and after this). Another option is to translate, “the Lord will remove them” (cf. NIV, NRSV).
  71. Psalm 125:5 tn Heb “the workers of wickedness.”
  72. Psalm 125:5 tn Heb “peace [be] upon Israel.” The statement is understood as a prayer (see Ps 122:8 for a similar prayer for peace).