ARC · Chapter 120/150
1Na minha angustia clamei ao Senhor, e me ouviu.
2Senhor, livra a minha alma dos labios mentirosos e da lingua enganadora.
3Que te será dado, ou que te será accrescentado, lingua enganadora?
4Frechas agudas do valente, com brazas vivas de zimbro.
5Ai de mim, que peregrino em Mesech, e habito nas tendas de Kedar.
6A minha alma bastante tempo habitou com os que detestam a paz.
7Pacifico sou, porém quando eu fallo já elles procuram guerra.
The first of the 'Songs of Ascents' (pilgrimage psalms): a plea against lying lips and a deceitful tongue, lamenting life among people who hate peace and prefer war.
This is the first of 15 psalms (120-134) called the 'Songs of Ascents' or 'Songs of Pilgrimage,' likely sung by Israelites as they went up the road to Jerusalem for the great annual festivals (the city sits on a height, hence 'going up' to Jerusalem). 'Meshech' and 'Kedar' (v.5) were distant regions associated with hostile peoples, used here poetically to describe the feeling of living surrounded by quarrelsome people. The application today is that actively pursuing peace, even surrounded by conflict and hostility, is a conscious choice of character.