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Salmos 123

ARC · Chapter 123/150

1A ti levanto os meus olhos, ó tu que habitas nos céus.

2Assim como os olhos dos servos attentam para as mãos dos seus senhores, e os olhos da serva para as mãos de sua senhora, assim os nossos olhos attentam para o Senhor nosso Deus, até que tenha piedade de nós.

3Tem piedade de nós, ó Senhor, tem piedade de nós, pois estamos assaz fartos de desprezo.

4A nossa alma está extremamente cheia da zombaria d'aquelles que estão á sua vontade e com o desprezo dos soberbos.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

A short and humble 'Song of Degrees' comparing the people's dependence on God to a servant's attentiveness to their master's hand, pleading for mercy amid the contempt and mockery of the proud.

Explanation

This small psalm uses an image drawn straight from ancient household life: male and female servants watched their masters' hands closely so they could respond instantly to any signal or command — and with this, the psalmist describes the ideal posture of total, attentive dependence on God. The repeated plea for 'mercy' (v.3) reflects the intensity of the suffering caused by the social contempt the community was experiencing. The application for today is to cultivate a constant, humble attentiveness to God's leading, especially in moments of humiliation or others' scorn.

Fun facts

  • The image of servants watching 'the hand' of their masters (v.2) reflects a real custom of the time: hand gestures were used to give silent commands to servants in formal settings.
  • This is one of the shortest psalms in the collection of 'Songs of Degrees,' with only four verses.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Salmos 123:1To “lift up mine eyes” was a physical gesture of prayer in the culture of the time — turning the face and gaze upward, toward the heavens, like someone seeking the attention of someone above.
  2. Salmos 123:2A true servant kept an eye on the master’s hand, waiting for the smallest signal to know what to do. It is that total attentiveness and dependence that the psalm uses to describe waiting on God.
  3. Salmos 123:3Asking for mercy twice in a row shows the urgency: the contempt suffered has already crossed the limit, and the plea insists in the same breath to reinforce how heavy it weighs.
  4. Salmos 123:4The complaint grows more specific: it is not just any contempt, it is the mockery of arrogant people, comfortable and at ease, looking down on those who suffer — the kind of humiliation hardest to swallow.

Chapters

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