Psalm 120–134

A Prayer for Help

120When I was in trouble, I called to the Lord,

and he answered me.

²Save me, Lord,

from liars and deceivers.

³You liars, what will God do to you?

How will he punish you?

⁴With a soldier’s sharp arrows,

with red-hot charcoal!

⁵Living among you is as bad as living in Meshech

or among the people of Kedar.^d

⁶I have lived too long

with people who hate peace!

⁷When I speak of peace,

they are for war.

The Our Protector

121I look to the mountains;

where will my help come from?

²My help will come from the Lord,

who made heaven and earth.

³He will not let you fall;

your protector is always awake.

⁴The protector of Israel

never dozes or sleeps.

⁵The Lord will guard you;

he is by your side to protect you.

⁶The sun will not hurt you during the day,

nor the moon during the night.

⁷The Lord will protect you from all danger;

he will keep you safe.

⁸He will protect you as you come and go

now and for ever.

In Praise of Jerusalem^e

122 I was glad when they said to me,

“Let us go to the Lord’s house.”

²And now we are here,

standing inside the gates of Jerusalem!

³Jerusalem is a city restored

in beautiful order and harmony.

⁴This is where

the tribes come, the tribes of Israel,

to give thanks to the Lord

according to his command.

⁵Here the kings of Israel

sat to judge their people.

⁶Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:

“May those who love you prosper.

⁷May there be peace inside your walls

and safety in your palaces.”

⁸For the sake of my relatives and friends

I say to Jerusalem, “Peace be with you!”

⁹For the sake of the house of the Lord our God

I pray for your prosperity.

A Prayer for Mercy

123Lord, I look up to you,

up to heaven, where you rule.

²As a servant depends on his master,

as a maid depends on her mistress,

so we will keep looking to you, O Lord our God,

until you have mercy on us.

³Be merciful to us, Lord, be merciful;

we have been treated with so much contempt.

⁴We have been mocked too long by the rich

and scorned by proud oppressors.

God the Protector of His People^f

124 What if the Lord had not been on our side?

Answer, O Israel!

²“If the Lord had not been on our side

when our enemies attacked us,

³then they would have swallowed us alive

in their furious anger against us;

⁴then the flood would have carried us away,

the water would have covered us,

⁵the raging torrent would have drowned us.”

⁶Let us thank the Lord,

who has not let our enemies destroy us.

⁷We have escaped like a bird from a hunter’s trap;

the trap is broken, and we are free!

⁸Our help comes from the Lord,

who made heaven and earth.

The Security of God’s People

125Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,

which can never be shaken, never be moved.

²As the mountains surround Jerusalem,

so the Lord surrounds his people

now and for ever.

³The wicked will not always rule over the land of the righteous;

if they did, the righteous themselves might do evil.

⁴Lord, do good to those who are good,

to those who obey your commands.

⁵But when you punish the wicked,

punish also those who abandon your ways.

Peace be with Israel!

A Prayer for Deliverance

126When the Lord brought us back to Jerusalem,^g

it was like a dream!

²How we laughed, how we sang for joy!

Then the other nations said about us,

“The Lord did great things for them.”

³Indeed he did great things for us;

how happy we were!

⁴Lord, make us prosperous again,^h

just as the rain brings water back to dry riverbeds.

⁵Let those who wept as they sowed their seed,

gather the harvest with joy!

⁶Those who wept as they went out carrying the seed

will come back singing for joy,

as they bring in the harvest.

In Praise of God’s Goodnessⁱ

127 If the Lord does not build the house,

the work of the builders is useless;

if the Lord does not protect the city,

it is useless for the sentries to stand guard.

²It is useless to work so hard for a living,

getting up early and going to bed late.

For the Lord provides for those he loves,

while they are asleep.

³Children are a gift from the Lord;

they are a real blessing.

⁴The sons a man has when he is young

are like arrows in a soldier’s hand.

⁵Happy is the man who has many such arrows.

He will never be defeated

when he meets his enemies in the place of judgement.

The Reward of Obedience to the

128Happy are those who obey the Lord,

who live by his commands.

²Your work will provide for your needs;

you will be happy and prosperous.

³Your wife will be like a fruitful vine in your home,

and your children will be like young olive trees round your table.

⁴A man who obeys the Lord

will surely be blessed like this.

⁵May the Lord bless you from Zion!

May you see Jerusalem prosper

all the days of your life!

⁶May you live to see your grandchildren!

Peace be with Israel!

A Prayer against Israel’s Enemies

129Israel, tell us how your enemies have persecuted you

ever since you were young.

²“Ever since I was young,

my enemies have persecuted me cruelly,

but they have not overcome me.

³They cut deep wounds in my back

and made it like a ploughed field.

⁴But the Lord, the righteous one,

has freed me from slavery.”

⁵May everyone who hates Zion

be defeated and driven back.

⁶May they all be like grass growing on the housetops,

which dries up before it can grow;

⁷no one gathers it up

or carries it away in bundles.

⁸No one who passes by will say,

“May the Lord bless you!

We bless you in the name of the Lord.”

A Prayer for Help

130From the depths of my despair I call to you, Lord.

²Hear my cry, O Lord;

listen to my call for help!

³If you kept a record of our sins,

who could escape being condemned?

⁴But you forgive us,

so that we should stand in awe of you.

⁵I wait eagerly for the Lord’s help,

and in his word I trust.

⁶I wait for the Lord

more eagerly than watchmen wait for the dawn—

than watchmen wait for the dawn.

⁷Israel, trust in the Lord,

because his love is constant

and he is always willing to save.

^8*He will save his people Israel

from all their sins.

A Prayer of Humble Trust^j

131 Lord, I have given up my pride

and turned away from my arrogance.

I am not concerned with great matters

or with subjects too difficult for me.

²Instead, I am content and at peace.

As a child lies quietly in its mother’s arms,

so my heart is quiet within me.

³Israel, trust in the Lord

now and for ever!

In Praise of the Temple

132Lord, do not forget David

and all the hardships he endured.

²Remember, Lord, what he promised,

the vow he made to you, the Mighty God of Jacob:

³“I will not go home or go to bed;

⁴I will not rest or sleep,

⁵until I provide a place for the Lord,

a home for the Mighty God of Jacob.”

^6*In Bethlehem we heard about the Covenant Box,

and we found it in the fields of Jearim.

^7*We said, “Let us go to the Lord’s house;

let us worship before his throne.”

^8*Come to the Temple, Lord, with the Covenant Box,

the symbol of your power,

and stay here for ever.

^9*May your priests do always what is right;

may your people shout for joy!

^10*You made a promise to your servant David;

do not reject your chosen king, Lord.

^11*You made a solemn promise to David—

a promise you will not take back:

“I will make one of your sons king,

and he will rule after you.

¹²If your sons are true to my covenant

and to the commands I give them,

their sons, also, will succeed you for all time as kings.”

¹³The Lord has chosen Zion;

he wants to make it his home:

¹⁴“This is where I will live for ever;

this is where I want to rule.

¹⁵I will richly provide Zion with all she needs;

I will satisfy her poor with food.

¹⁶I will bless her priests in all they do,

and her people will sing and shout for joy.

^17*Here I will make one of David’s descendants a great king;

here I will preserve the rule of my chosen king.

¹⁸I will cover his enemies with shame,

but his kingdom will prosper and flourish.”

In Praise of Brotherly Love^k

133 How wonderful it is, how pleasant,

for God’s people to live together in harmony!

²It is like the precious anointing oil

running down from Aaron’s head and beard,

down to the collar of his robes.

³It is like the dew on Mount Hermon,

falling on the hills of Zion.

That is where the Lord has promised his blessing—

life that never ends.

A Call to Praise God

134Come, praise the Lord, all his servants,

all who serve in his Temple at night.

²Raise your hands in prayer in the Temple,

and praise the Lord!

³May the Lord, who made heaven and earth,

bless you from Zion!