Psalms 120–136

Psalms 120–136 WEB

^120:1In my distress, I cried to the LORD. He answered me. ²Deliver my soul, LORD, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue. ³What will be given to you, and what will be done more to you, you deceitful tongue? ⁴Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper. ⁵Woe is me, that I live in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar! ⁶My soul has had her dwelling too long with him who hates peace. ⁷I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war.

^121:1I will lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? ²My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. ³He will not allow your foot to be moved. 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 harm you by day, nor the moon by night. ⁷The LORD will keep you from all evil. He will keep your soul. ⁸The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in, from this time forward, and forever more.

^122:1I was glad when they said to me, “Let’s go to the LORD’s house!” ²Our feet are standing within your gates, Jerusalem! ³Jerusalem is built as a city that is compact together, ⁴where the tribes go up, even the LORD’s tribes, according to an ordinance for Israel, to give thanks to the LORD’s name. ⁵For there are set thrones for judgment, the thrones of David’s house. ⁶Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Those who love you will prosper. ⁷Peace be within your walls, and prosperity within your palaces. ⁸For my brothers’ and companions’ sakes, I will now say, “Peace be within you.” ⁹For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your good.

^123:1I lift up my eyes to you, you who sit 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 has mercy on us. ³Have mercy on us, LORD, have mercy on us, for we have endured much contempt. ⁴Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scoffing of those who are at ease, with the contempt of the proud.

^124:1If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, let Israel now say, ²if it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us, ³then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their wrath was kindled against us, ⁴then the waters would have overwhelmed us, the stream would have gone over our soul. ⁵Then the proud waters would have gone over our soul. ⁶Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as a prey to their teeth. ⁷Our soul has escaped like a bird out of the fowler’s snare. The snare is broken, and we have escaped. ⁸Our help is in the LORD’s name, who made heaven and earth.

^125:1Those who trust in the LORD are as Mount Zion, which can’t be moved, but remains forever. ²As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people from this time forward and forever more. ³For the scepter of wickedness won’t remain over the allotment of the righteous, so that the righteous won’t use their hands to do evil. ⁴Do good, LORD, to those who are good, to those who are upright in their hearts. ⁵But as for those who turn away to their crooked ways, the LORD will lead them away with the workers of iniquity. Peace be on Israel.

^126:1When the LORD brought back those who returned to Zion, we were like those who dream. ²Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing. Then they said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.” ³The LORD has done great things for us, and we are glad. ⁴Restore our fortunes again, LORD, like the streams in the Negev. ⁵Those who sow in tears will reap in joy. ⁶He who goes out weeping, carrying seed for sowing, will certainly come again with joy, carrying his sheaves.

^127:1Unless the LORD builds the house, they who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman guards it in vain. ²It is vain for you to rise up early, to stay up late, eating the bread of toil, for he gives sleep to his loved ones. ³Behold, children are a heritage of the LORD. The fruit of the womb is his reward. ⁴As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of youth. ⁵Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them. They won’t be disappointed when they speak with their enemies in the gate.

^128:1Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways. ²For you will eat the labor of your hands. You will be happy, and it will be well with you. ³Your wife will be as a fruitful vine in the innermost parts of your house, your children like olive shoots around your table. ⁴Behold, this is how the man who fears the LORD is blessed. ⁵May the LORD bless you out of Zion, and may you see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life. ⁶Yes, may you see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel.

^129:1Many times they have afflicted me from my youth up. Let Israel now say: ²many times they have afflicted me from my youth up, yet they have not prevailed against me. ³The plowers plowed on my back. They made their furrows long. ⁴The LORD is righteous. He has cut apart the cords of the wicked. ⁵Let them be disappointed and turned backward, all those who hate Zion. ⁶Let them be as the grass on the housetops, which withers before it grows up, ⁷with which the reaper doesn’t fill his hand, nor he who binds sheaves, his bosom. ⁸Neither do those who go by say, “The blessing of the LORD be on you. We bless you in the LORD’s name.”

^130:1Out of the depths I have cried to you, LORD. ²Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my petitions. ³If you, LORD, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? ⁴But there is forgiveness with you, therefore you are feared. ⁵I wait for the LORD. My soul waits. I hope in his word. ⁶My soul longs for the Lord more than watchmen long for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. ⁷Israel, hope in the LORD, for there is loving kindness with the LORD. Abundant redemption is with him. ⁸He will redeem Israel from all their sins.

^131:1LORD, my heart isn’t arrogant, nor my eyes lofty; nor do I concern myself with great matters, or things too wonderful for me. ²Surely I have stilled and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. ³Israel, hope in the LORD, from this time forward and forever more.

^132:1LORD, remember David and all his affliction, ²how he swore to the LORD, and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob: ³“Surely I will not come into the structure of my house, nor go up into my bed; ⁴I will not give sleep to my eyes, or slumber to my eyelids, ⁵until I find out a place for the LORD, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.” ⁶Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah. We found it in the field of Jaar. ⁷“We will go into his dwelling place. We will worship at his footstool.” ⁸Arise, LORD, into your resting place, you, and the ark of your strength. ⁹Let your priests be clothed with righteousness. Let your saints shout for joy! ¹⁰For your servant David’s sake, don’t turn away the face of your anointed one. ¹¹The LORD has sworn to David in truth. He will not turn from it: “I will set the fruit of your body on your throne. ¹²If your children will keep my covenant, my testimony that I will teach them, their children also will sit on your throne forever more.” ¹³For the LORD has chosen Zion. He has desired it for his habitation. ¹⁴“This is my resting place forever. I will live here, for I have desired it. ¹⁵I will abundantly bless her provision. I will satisfy her poor with bread. ¹⁶I will also clothe her priests with salvation. Her saints will shout aloud for joy. ¹⁷I will make the horn of David to bud there. I have ordained a lamp for my anointed. ¹⁸I will clothe his enemies with shame, but on himself, his crown will shine.”

^133:1See how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity! ²It is like the precious oil on the head, that ran down on the beard, even Aaron’s beard, that came down on the edge of his robes, ³like the dew of Hermon, that comes down on the hills of Zion; for there the LORD gives the blessing, even life forever more.

^134:1Look! Praise the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, who stand by night in the LORD’s house! ²Lift up your hands in the sanctuary. Praise the LORD! ³May the LORD bless you from Zion, even he who made heaven and earth.

^135:1Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD’s name! Praise him, you servants of the LORD, ²you who stand in the LORD’s house, in the courts of our God’s house. ³Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good. Sing praises to his name, for that is pleasant. ⁴For the LORD has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel for his own possession. ⁵For I know that the LORD is great, that our Lord is above all gods. ⁶Whatever the LORD pleased, that he has done, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps. ⁷He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings with the rain. He brings the wind out of his treasuries. ⁸He struck the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and animal. ⁹He sent signs and wonders into the middle of you, Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his servants. ¹⁰He struck many nations, and killed mighty kings— ¹¹Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan— ¹²and gave their land for a heritage, a heritage to Israel, his people. ¹³Your name, LORD, endures forever; your renown, LORD, throughout all generations. ¹⁴For the LORD will judge his people and have compassion on his servants. ¹⁵The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. ¹⁶They have mouths, but they can’t speak. They have eyes, but they can’t see. ¹⁷They have ears, but they can’t hear, neither is there any breath in their mouths. ¹⁸Those who make them will be like them, yes, everyone who trusts in them. ¹⁹House of Israel, praise the LORD! House of Aaron, praise the LORD! ²⁰House of Levi, praise the LORD! You who fear the LORD, praise the LORD! ²¹Blessed be the LORD from Zion, who dwells in Jerusalem. Praise the LORD!

^136:1Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever. ²Give thanks to the God of gods, for his loving kindness endures forever. ³Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his loving kindness endures forever; ⁴to him who alone does great wonders, for his loving kindness endures forever; ⁵to him who by understanding made the heavens, for his loving kindness endures forever; ⁶to him who spread out the earth above the waters, for his loving kindness endures forever; ⁷to him who made the great lights, for his loving kindness endures forever; ⁸the sun to rule by day, for his loving kindness endures forever; ⁹the moon and stars to rule by night, for his loving kindness endures forever; ¹⁰to him who struck down the Egyptian firstborn, for his loving kindness endures forever; ¹¹and brought out Israel from among them, for his loving kindness endures forever; ¹²with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, for his loving kindness endures forever; ¹³to him who divided the Red Sea apart, for his loving kindness endures forever; ¹⁴and made Israel to pass through the middle of it, for his loving kindness endures forever; ¹⁵but overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, for his loving kindness endures forever; ¹⁶to him who led his people through the wilderness, for his loving kindness endures forever; ¹⁷to him who struck great kings, for his loving kindness endures forever; ¹⁸and killed mighty kings, for his loving kindness endures forever; ¹⁹Sihon king of the Amorites, for his loving kindness endures forever; ²⁰Og king of Bashan, for his loving kindness endures forever; ²¹and gave their land as an inheritance, for his loving kindness endures forever; ²²even a heritage to Israel his servant, for his loving kindness endures forever; ²³who remembered us in our low estate, for his loving kindness endures forever; ²⁴and has delivered us from our adversaries, for his loving kindness endures forever; ²⁵who gives food to every creature, for his loving kindness endures forever. ²⁶Oh give thanks to the God of heaven, for his loving kindness endures forever.