Psalms
Summary
Psalm 120 is the first of the fifteen "Songs of Ascents" (Psalms 120-134), traditionally sung by pilgrims as they travelled up to Jerusalem for festivals. It is a prayer for deliverance from deceitful tongues and lying lips. The psalmist expresses his distress as a dweller in Meshech and Kedar: places far from the peace of Zion: where he is surrounded by those who hate peace. While the psalmist is for peace, those around him are for war. It serves as a starting point for the pilgrim's journey, a cry for God's help in a world of conflict and falsehood.
I call on the LORD in my distress, and he answers me.
Save me, LORD, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues.
What will he do to you, and what more besides, you deceitful tongue?
He will punish you with a warrior’s sharp arrows, with burning coals of the broom bush.
Woe to me that I dwell in Meshech, that I live among the tents of Kedar!
Too long have I lived among those who hate peace.
I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war.