Psalms 120:1--123:4 
ContextA song of ascents. 2
120:1 In my distress I cried out
to the Lord and he answered me.
120:2 I said, 3 “O Lord, rescue me 4
from those who lie with their lips 5
and those who deceive with their tongue. 6
120:3 How will he severely punish you,
you deceptive talker? 7
120:4 Here’s how! 8 With the sharp arrows of warriors,
with arrowheads forged over the hot coals. 9
For I have lived temporarily 11 in Meshech;
I have resided among the tents of Kedar. 12
120:6 For too long I have had to reside
with those who hate 13 peace.
120:7 I am committed to peace, 14
but when I speak, they want to make war. 15
A song of ascents. 17
121:1 I look up 18 toward the hills.
From where 19 does my help come?
121:2 My help comes from the Lord, 20
the Creator 21 of heaven and earth!
121:3 May he not allow your foot to slip!
May your protector 22 not sleep! 23
121:4 Look! Israel’s protector 24
does not sleep or slumber!
121:5 The Lord is your protector;
the Lord is the shade at your right hand.
121:6 The sun will not harm you by day,
or the moon by night. 25
121:7 The Lord will protect you from all harm;
he will protect your life.
121:8 The Lord will protect you in all you do, 26
now and forevermore.
A song of ascents, 28 by David.
122:1 I was glad because 29 they said to me,
“We will go to the Lord’s temple.”
122:2 Our feet are 30 standing
inside your gates, O Jerusalem.
122:3 Jerusalem 31 is a city designed
to accommodate an assembly. 32
122:4 The tribes go up 33 there, 34
the tribes of the Lord,
where it is required that Israel
give thanks to the name of the Lord. 35
122:5 Indeed, 36 the leaders sit 37 there on thrones and make legal decisions,
on the thrones of the house of David. 38
122:6 Pray 39 for the peace of Jerusalem!
May those who love her prosper! 40
122:7 May there be peace inside your defenses,
and prosperity 41 inside your fortresses! 42
122:8 For the sake of my brothers and my neighbors
I will say, “May there be peace in you!”
122:9 For the sake of the temple of the Lord our God
I will pray for you to prosper. 43
A song of ascents. 45
123:1 I look up 46 toward you,
the one enthroned 47 in heaven.
123:2 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, 48
so my eyes will look to the Lord, our God, until he shows us favor.
123:3 Show us favor, O Lord, show us favor!
For we have had our fill of humiliation, and then some. 49
of the taunts of the self-assured,
of the contempt of the proud.
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 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 tn The words “I said” are supplied in the translation for clarification. See the introductory note for this psalm.
4 tn Or “my life.”
5 tn Heb “from a lip of falsehood.”
6 tn Heb “from a tongue of deception.”
7 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
8 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 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 tn Or “woe to me.” The Hebrew term אוֹיָה (’oyah, “woe”) which occurs only here, is an alternate form of אוֹי (’oy).
11 tn Heb “I live as a resident alien.”
12 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 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 tn Heb “I, peace.”
15 tn Heb “they [are] for war.”
16 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 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 tn Heb “I lift my eyes.”
19 tn The Hebrew term מֵאַיִן (me’ayin) 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 in anticipation of supernatural intervention. The psalmist assumes the dramatic role of one needing help. He answers his own question in v. 2.
20 tn Heb “my help [is] from with the
21 tn Or “Maker.”
22 tn Heb “the one who guards you.”
23 tn The prefixed verbal forms following the negative particle אל 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.
24 tn Heb “the one who guards Israel.”
25 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 tn Heb “your going out and your coming in.”
27 sn Psalm 122. The psalmist expresses his love for Jerusalem and promises to pray for the city’s security.
28 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 tn Heb “in the ones saying to me.” After the verb שָׂמַח (samakh), the preposition בְּ (bet) usually introduces the reason for joy.
30 tn Or “were.”
31 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
32 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 (khubbÿrah, “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).
33 tn Or “went up.”
34 tn Heb “which is where the tribes go up.”
35 tn Heb “[it is] a statute for Israel to give thanks to the name of the
36 tn Or “for.”
37 tn Or “sat.”
38 tn Heb “Indeed, there they sit [on] thrones for judgment, [on] thrones [belonging] to the house of David.”
39 tn Heb “ask [for].”
40 tn Or “be secure.”
41 tn or “security.”
42 tn The psalmist uses second feminine singular pronominal forms to address personified Jerusalem.
43 tn Heb “I will seek good for you.” The psalmist will seek Jerusalem’s “good” through prayer.
44 sn Psalm 123. The psalmist, speaking for God’s people, acknowledges his dependence on God in the midst of a crisis.
45 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.
46 tn Heb “I lift my eyes.”
47 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).
48 sn Servants look to their master for food, shelter, and other basic needs.
49 tn Heb “for greatly we are filled [with] humiliation.”
50 tn Heb “greatly our soul is full to it.”
