Psalms 120 DBY
Summary: The first of the fifteen "Songs of Ascents" (120-134), likely sung by pilgrims traveling up to Jerusalem for festivals, opening with a cry of distress: "In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and he heard me" (v. 1), specifically from "lying lips" and "a deceitful tongue" (v. 2). The psalmist laments living among hostile, warmongering neighbors — "Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar" (v. 5) — foreign or distant peoples used as a figure for surrounding hostility. It closes with the contrast "I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war" (v. 7).
1A Song of degrees. In my trouble I called unto Jehovah, and he answered me.
2Jehovah, deliver my soul from the lying lip, from the deceitful tongue.
3What shall be given unto thee, what shall be added unto thee, thou deceitful tongue?
4Sharp arrows of a mighty one, with burning coals of broom-wood.
5Woe is me, that I sojourn in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!
6My soul hath long dwelt with them that hate peace.
7I [am for] peace; but when I speak, they [are] for war.
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