Psalms 120

Chapter context

What is happening in Psalms 120?

prayerpraiselamentkingship

Psalms 120 belongs to the middle movement of the book, especially the section often described as Book IV. Psalms is the Bible’s great book of sung prayer, teaching the full range of faithful speech from anguish and repentance to jubilation and doxology. Read this chapter with the wider themes of prayer, praise, and lament in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.

¹ In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and he heard me. ² Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue. ³ What shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue? ⁴ Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper. ⁵ Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar! ⁶ My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace. ⁷ I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war.

Study helps

Glossary

Jerusalem Place v. 1: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Jerusalem.
Kedar Place v. 5: Biblical people group. Modern identification: Dumat al Jandal.
Meshech Place v. 5: Biblical region. Modern identification: Gordion.