PSALM 120

Prayer for Deliverance from the Treacherous.

A Song of Ascents.

1In my trouble I cried to the Lord,

And He answered me.

2Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips,

From a deceitful tongue.

3What shall be given to you, and what more shall be done to you,

You deceitful tongue?

4Sharp arrows of the warrior,

With the burning coals of the broom tree.

5Woe is me, for I sojourn in Meshech,

For I dwell among the tents of Kedar!

6Too long has my soul had its dwelling

With those who hate peace.

7I am for peace, but when I speak,

They are for war.

PSALM 121

The Lord the Keeper of Israel.

A Song of Ascents.

1I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;

From where shall my help come?

2My help comes from the Lord,

Who made heaven and earth.

3He will not allow your foot to slip;

He who keeps you will not slumber.

4Behold, He who keeps Israel

Will neither slumber nor sleep.

5The Lord is your keeper;

The Lord is your shade on your right hand.

6The sun will not smite you by day,

Nor the moon by night.

7The Lord will protect you from all evil;

He will keep your soul.

8The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in

From this time forth and forever.

PSALM 122

Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem.

A Song of Ascents, of David.

1I was glad when they said to me,

“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

2Our feet are standing

Within your gates, O Jerusalem,

3Jerusalem, that is built

As a city that is compact together;

4To which the tribes go up, even the tribes of the Lord—

An ordinance for Israel—

To give thanks to the name of the Lord.

5For there thrones were set for judgment,

The thrones of the house of David.

6Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:

“May they prosper who love you.

7May peace be within your walls,

And prosperity within your palaces.”

8For the sake of my brothers and my friends,

I will now say, “May peace be within you.”

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

I will seek your good.

PSALM 123

Prayer for the Lord’s Help.

A Song of Ascents.

1To You I lift up my eyes,

O You who are enthroned in the heavens!

2Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,

As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,

So our eyes look to the Lord our God,

Until He is gracious to us.

3Be gracious to us, O Lord, be gracious to us,

For we are greatly filled with contempt.

4Our soul is greatly filled

With the scoffing of those who are at ease,

And with the contempt of the proud.

PSALM 124

Praise for Rescue from Enemies.

A Song of Ascents, of David.

1“Had it not been the Lord who was on our side,”

Let Israel now say,

2“Had it not been the Lord who was on our side

When men rose up against us,

3Then they would have swallowed us alive,

When their anger was kindled against us;

4Then the waters would have engulfed us,

The stream would have swept over our soul;

5Then the raging waters would have swept over our soul.”

6Blessed be the Lord,

Who has not given us to be torn by their teeth.

7Our soul has escaped as a bird out of the snare of the trapper;

The snare is broken and we have escaped.

8Our help is in the name of the Lord,

Who made heaven and earth.

PSALM 125

The Lord Surrounds His People.

A Song of Ascents.

1Those who trust in the Lord

Are as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved but abides forever.

2As the mountains surround Jerusalem,

So the Lord surrounds His people

From this time forth and forever.

3For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest upon the land of the righteous,

So that the righteous will not put forth their hands to do wrong.

4Do good, O Lord, to those who are good

And to those who are upright in their hearts.

5But as for those who turn aside to their crooked ways,

The Lord will lead them away with the doers of iniquity.

Peace be upon Israel.