> [[psalm-119|← Previous]] | [[psalm-00|TOC]] | [[psalm-121|Next →]] --- # Psalm 120 ## Prayer of a Returned Exile 1 A song of ascents. The LORD answered me when I called in my distress: 2 LORD, deliver my soul from lying lips, from a treacherous tongue. 3 What will he inflict on you, O treacherous tongue, and what more besides? 4 A warrior’s arrows sharpened with coals of brush wood! 5 Alas, I am a foreigner in Meshech, I live among the tents of Kedar! 6 Too long do I live among those who hate peace. 7 When I speak of peace, they are for war. \* (Psalm 120) A thanksgiving, reporting divine rescue ([Ps 120:1]) yet with fervent prayer for further protection against lying attackers ([Ps 120:2] – [4]). The psalmist is acutely conscious of living away from God’s own land where divine peace prevails ([Ps 120:5] – [7]). \* (120:1) A song of ascents: [Ps 120] – [134] all begin with this superscription. Most probably these fifteen Psalms once formed a collection of Psalms sung when pilgrims went to Jerusalem, since one “ascended” to Jerusalem ([[1-kings-12|1 Kgs 12]]:28; ([[psalm-24|Ps 24]]:3]; [122:4]; ([[luke-02|Lk 2]]:42]) or to the house of God or to an altar ([[1-kings-12|1 Kgs 12]]:33; [[2-kings-23|2 Kgs 23]]:2; ([[psalm-24|Ps 24]]:3]). Less probable is the explanation that these Psalms were sung by the exiles when they “ascended” to Jerusalem from Babylonia (cf. ([[ezra-07|Ezr 7]]:9]). The idea, found in the Mishnah, that the fifteen steps on which the Levites sang corresponded to these fifteen Psalms (Middot 2:5) must underlie the Vulgate translation *canticum graduum*, “song of the steps” or “gradual song.” \* (120:3) More besides: a common curse formula in Hebrew was “May the Lord do such and such evils to you \[the evils being specified\], and add still more to them,” cf. [1 Sm 3:17]; [14:44]; [25:22]. Here the psalmist is at a loss for a suitable malediction. \* (120:4) Coals of brush wood: coals made from the stalk of the broom plant burn with intense heat. The psalmist thinks of lighted coals cast at his enemies. \* (120:5) Meshech was in the far north ([[genesis-10|Gen 10]]:2) and Kedar was a tribe of the north Arabian desert ([Gn 25:13]). The psalmist may be thinking generally of all aliens living among inhospitable peoples. a. (120:1) [Jon 2:3]. b. (120:2) ([[psalm-12|Ps 12]]:3] – [5]; [Sir 51:3]. c. (120:4) ([[psalm-11|Ps 11]]:6]; [140:11]; [Prv 16:27]. d. (120:7) [Ps 35:20]; [140:3] – [4]. --- _New American Bible, revised edition_ (2010, 1991, 1986, 1970) Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. > [[psalm-119|← Previous]] | [[psalm-00|TOC]] | [[psalm-121|Next →]]