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Psalms 120

KJV · Chapter 120/150

1In my distress I cried unto the Lord, and he heard me.

2Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue.

3What shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue?

4Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.

5Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!

6My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace.

7I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

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.

Explanation

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.

Fun facts

  • Psalms 120-134 form the collection of the 'Songs of Ascents' (or 'songs of going up'), traditionally sung by pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem for the annual festivals.
  • 'Meshech' lay in the north of Asia Minor and 'Kedar' was an Arabian desert region — cited together here despite being geographically distant, as a poetic way of saying 'a strange and hostile land, wherever it may be.'

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Psalms 120:1Psalms 120 through 134 form the “Songs of Ascents” (or Pilgrimage): a set of 15 short psalms that pilgrims sang while climbing the road up to Jerusalem for the great religious festivals. That is why many of them speak of the road, arrival, and the holy city.
  2. Psalms 120:2The plea for deliverance is specific: not from armed enemies, but from lying lips and a deceitful tongue, the concrete source of the distress mentioned in the previous verse.
  3. Psalms 120:3The question is aimed straight at the “false tongue,” almost taunting it: what does it gain, what reward does it get for lying so much?
  4. Psalms 120:4The answer to the previous verse’s question comes as an image: sharp arrows and coals of juniper, wood known for burning with strong, long-lasting embers — punishment fitting the harm caused by the lying tongue.
  5. Psalms 120:5Mesech, to the north near the Black Sea, and Kedar, Arab desert tribes, were quite far apart from each other in real life. Put together here, they are not meant as an exact address, but as a symbol for living surrounded by hostile people, strangers to peace.
  6. Psalms 120:6The complaint is about too much time spent among hostile people, expanding the image of living surrounded by Mesech and Kedar, the distant peoples named in the previous verse.
  7. Psalms 120:7The contrast closes the psalm: the psalmist seeks peace, but the moment he opens his mouth, others are already for war — a frustration with no apparent solution in the poem.

Chapters

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