Psalm 120–124

A Prayer of Someone Far from Home

A psalm for going up to worship.

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

and he answered me.

²Lord, save me from liars

and from those who plan evil.

³You who plan evil, what will God do to you?

How will he punish you?

⁴He will punish you with the sharp arrows of a warrior

and with burning coals of wood.

⁵How terrible it is for me to live in the land of Meshech,

to live among the people of Kedar.

⁶I have lived too long

with people who hate peace.

⁷When I talk peace,

they want war.

The Lord Guards His People

A song for going up to worship.

121I look up to the hills,

but where does my help come from?

²My help comes from the Lord,

who made heaven and earth.

³He will not let you be defeated.

He who guards you never sleeps.

⁴He who guards Israel

never rests or sleeps.

⁵The Lord guards you.

The Lord is the shade that protects you from the sun.

⁶The sun cannot hurt you during the day,

and the moon cannot hurt you at night.

⁷The Lord will protect you from all dangers;

he will guard your life.

⁸The Lord will guard you as you come and go,

both now and forever.

Happy People in Jerusalem

A song for going up to worship. Of David.

122I was happy when they said to me,

“Let’s go to the Temple of the Lord.”

²Jerusalem, we are standing

at your gates.

³Jerusalem is built as a city

with the buildings close together.

⁴The tribes go up there,

the tribes who belong to the Lord.

It is the rule in Israel

to praise the Lord at Jerusalem.

⁵There the descendants of David

set their thrones to judge the people.

⁶Pray for peace in Jerusalem:

“May those who love her be safe.

⁷May there be peace within her walls

and safety within her strong towers.”

⁸To help my relatives and friends,

I say, “Let Jerusalem have peace.”

⁹For the sake of the Temple of the Lord our God,

I wish good for her.

A Prayer for Mercy

A song for going up to worship.

123Lord, I look upward to you,

you who live in heaven.

²Slaves depend on their masters,

and a female servant depends on her mistress.

In the same way, we depend on the Lord our God;

we wait for him to show us mercy.

³Have mercy on us, Lord. Have mercy on us,

because we have been insulted.

⁴We have suffered many insults from lazy people

and much cruelty from the proud.

The Lord Saves His People

A song for going up to worship. Of David.

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

(Let Israel repeat this.)

²What if the Lord had not been on our side

when we were attacked?

³When they were angry with us,

they would have swallowed us alive.

⁴They would have been like a flood drowning us;

they would have poured over us like a river.

⁵They would have swept us away like a mighty stream.

⁶Praise the Lord,

who did not let them chew us up.

⁷We escaped like a bird

from the hunter’s trap.

The trap broke,

and we escaped.

⁸Our help comes from the Lord,

who made heaven and earth.