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Psalms 120

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A Cry for Deliverance 1–2

1
In my distress I cried unto Jehovah, And he answered me. ​
2
Deliver my soul, O Jehovah, from lying lips, Andfrom a deceitful tongue. ​

The Fate of the Deceitful 3–4

3
What shall be given unto thee, and what shall be done more unto thee, Thou deceitful tongue?
4
Sharp arrows of the mighty, With coals of juniper. ​

Lamenting Exile Among the Hostile 5–7

5
Woe is me, that I sojourn in Meshech, That I dwell among the tents of Kedar! ​
6
My soul hath long had her dwelling With him that hateth peace.
7
I amforpeace: But when I speak, they are for war. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Psalms 120

Verse 1

A Song of degrees — The title, maaloth (from maalah, a going up, a step), stands over fifteen psalms, 120 to 134. The first is a prayer already answered: 'In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and he heard me', as in Ps 18:6 and Jonah 2:2, where the cry rises 'out of the belly of hell'.

Verse 2

lying lips… a deceitful tongue — Sheqer is falsehood and remiyah deceit or treachery. 'Soul' (nephesh) is the whole life that the slander threatens. 'False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not' (Ps 35:11) names the same danger; the council sought it against Christ (Matt 26:59).

Verse 4

coals of juniper — Rethem is the broom, a desert shrub. The word occurs only here, in Job 30:4, and in 1 Kings 19:4–5, where Elijah sits beneath one. The 'sharp arrows of the mighty' are the warrior's weapons turned on the false tongue; James calls the tongue 'a fire' (Jas 3:6).

Verse 5

Mesech… Kedar — Mesech (Meshech) is a son of Japheth (Gen 10:2), and Kedar a son of Ishmael (Gen 25:13), whose people lived in 'the tents of Kedar' (Song 1:5). Both were outside Israel. 'Sojourn' (gur) is to live as a stranger, among foreign peoples.

Verse 7

I am for peace — The Hebrew is more spare: shalom, 'I am peace.' Milchamah, war, is the word set against it. The line matches 'If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men' (Rom 12:18) and the blessing of 'the peacemakers' (Matt 5:9), spoken by one who speaks peace and is met with war.