Psalm 120-134

Evangelical Heritage Version

¹ In my distress I called to the Lord,
and he answered me.
² Lord, save my life from lying lips.
Save me from deceitful tongues.
³ What will he give to you?
What more will he add to you, you deceitful tongue?
⁴ A warrior’s sharpened arrows with hot coals of the broom tree.
⁵ Woe to me that I am an alien in Meshek,
that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!
⁶ For too long my soul^[b] has dwelt with those who hate peace.
⁷ I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war.

¹ I lift up my eyes to the mountains.
Where does my help come from?
² My help comes from the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.
³ He will not let your foot stumble.
He who watches over you will not slumber.
⁴ Yes, he who watches over Israel will not slumber.
He will not sleep.
⁵ The Lord watches over you.
The Lord is your shade at your right hand.
⁶ The sun will not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
⁷ The Lord will watch to keep you from all harm.^[c]
He will watch over your life.^[d]
8 The Lord will watch over your going and your coming
    from now to eternity.

¹ I rejoiced with those who said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”
² Our feet are standing in your gates, O Jerusalem.
³ Jerusalem is a well-built city that is firmly joined together,^[e]
4 a city to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord,^[f]
    as a testimony to Israel,
    to give praise to the name of the Lord.
⁵ That is where the thrones for judgment sit,
the thrones of the house of David.
⁶ Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May those who love you prosper.
⁷ May there be peace within your fortifications,
prosperity within your citadels.”
⁸ For the sake of my brothers and my friends,
now I will say, “Peace be within you.”
⁹ For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek good for you.

¹ To you I lift up my eyes,
to you who are seated in heaven.
² Indeed, as the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until he shows us his grace.
³ Show grace to us, O Lord.
Show grace to us,
for we have had our fill of contempt.
⁴ Our souls have had their fill of the scorn of the smug
and of the contempt of the arrogant.

¹ Unless it was the Lord who was for us—
let Israel say—
² unless it was the Lord who was for us
when people^[g] rose against us,
³ they would have swallowed us alive
when their anger burned against us.
⁴ Then the waters would have submerged us.
The torrent would have swept our lives away.
⁵ Then the wild waters would have swept us away.
⁶ Blessed be the Lord,
    who has not let us be prey for their teeth.
⁷ We have escaped with our lives
    like a bird out of the fowlers’ snare.
The snare has been broken, and we have escaped.
⁸ Our help is in the name of the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.

¹ Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion.
It cannot be shaken. It will stand forever.
² As Jerusalem is surrounded by mountains,
so the Lord surrounds his people from now to eternity.
³ No, the scepter of wickedness will not rest
    on the land assigned to the righteous,
so that the righteous do not reach out their hands toward evil.
⁴ Do good, O Lord, for the good
and for those who are upright in their hearts.
⁵ But those who turn to their crooked ways—
the Lord will send them away with the evildoers.
Peace be on Israel.

¹ When the Lord restored the captives to Zion,^[h]
    we were like dreamers.
² Then our mouths were filled with laughter,
and our tongues with shouts of joy.
Then they said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
³ The Lord has done great things for us.
We are glad.
⁴ Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like the dry gulches of the Negev.
⁵ Those who sow with weeping will reap with joyful shouts.
⁶ The one who walks along weeping, carrying a bag of seed to sow,
    will come back again with joyful shouts, carrying his sheaves.

¹ If the Lord does not build the house,
    it is useless for the builders to work hard over it.
If the Lord does not watch over the city,
    it is useless for the watchman to stand guard.
² It is useless for you to get up early and to work late,
worrying about bread to eat,
because God grants sleep to the one he loves.^[i]
3 Indeed, children are a heritage from the Lord.
The fruit of the womb is a reward from him.
⁴ Sons born during one’s youth are like arrows
    in the hand of a warrior.
⁵ How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
    when they dispute with enemies at the city gate.^[j]

¹ How blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,
everyone who is walking in his ways.
² Yes, you will eat the food you worked for.
How blessed you are! It will go well for you!
³ Your wife will be like a fruitful vine in the inner rooms of your house.
Your children will be like olive shoots around your table.
⁴ Look! This is how blessed the man is who fears the Lord!

⁵ May the Lord bless you from Zion,
so that you see the prosperity of Jerusalem,
all the days of your life,
⁶ and you see your children’s children.
Peace be on Israel.

¹ Greatly they have afflicted me from my youth—
let Israel say—
² greatly they have afflicted me from my youth,
yet they have not been able to defeat me.
³ On my back plowmen have plowed.
They made their furrows long.

⁴ The Lord is righteous.
He has cut the ropes of the wicked to pieces.
⁵ Let all who hate Zion be ashamed and turned back.
⁶ Let them be like grass on the roof,
    which withers even before it is pulled up.
⁷ The reaper cannot fill his hand with it.
The one who binds sheaves cannot fill his arms.
⁸ May those who pass by never say,
“The blessing of the Lord be with you.
We bless you in the name of the Lord.”

¹ Out of the depths I have called to you, O Lord.
² Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive to the sound of my cry for mercy.
³ If you, Lord,^[k] kept a record of guilt,
O Lord, who could stand?
⁴ But with you there is pardon,
so you are feared.
⁵ I wait for the Lord. My soul waits,
and in his word I have put my hope.
⁶ My soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.
⁷ Israel, wait confidently for the Lord,
because with the Lord there is mercy.
With him there is abundant redemption.
⁸ So he himself will redeem Israel from all its guilt.

¹ Lord, my heart is not haughty,
and my eyes are not proud.
So I do not intrude into great matters
or into things too wonderful for me.
² Instead I have soothed and quieted my soul.
As a nursed child rests with its mother,
like a nursed^[l] child my soul rests with me.
³ Wait confidently, O Israel, for the Lord
    from now to eternity.

¹ Remember for David’s sake, O Lord, all his afflictions.
² Remember how he swore to the Lord.
He made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob:
³ “I will not enter my own house.^[m]
I will not get into my own bed.^[n]
4 I will not allow my eyes to sleep
or my eyelids to slumber,
⁵ until I find a place for the Lord,
a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.”

⁶ Yes, we heard about it in Ephrathah.
We found it in the fields of Ja’ar.
⁷ Let us go to his dwelling place.
Let us bow down at his footstool.
⁸ Arise, O Lord, come to your resting place,
    you and the ark of your strength.
⁹ May your priests be clothed with righteousness.
May your favored ones shout for joy.
¹⁰ For the sake of David your servant,
do not reject the face of your Anointed One.^[o]

¹¹ The Lord swore to David
    a truth from which he will not turn back:
“From the fruit of your body
    I will place kings on your throne.
¹² If your sons keep my covenant
and my testimonies that I teach them,
then their sons will sit on your throne forever.”
¹³ For the Lord has chosen Zion.
He has desired it for his dwelling.
¹⁴ “This is my resting place forever.
Here I will live, for I have desired it.
¹⁵ I will bless her greatly with food.
I will satisfy Zion’s poor with bread.
¹⁶ I will clothe her priests with salvation,
and her favored ones will shout for joy.
¹⁷ There I will make a horn shoot up for David.
I will set up a lamp for my Anointed One.
¹⁸ I will clothe his enemies with shame,
but on him his crown will be beautiful.”

¹ Look, how good and how pleasant it is
    when brothers live together in unity!
² It is like the precious oil poured on the head,
    running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron,
    running down on the collar of his robes.
³ It is like the dew from Hermon
    running down on the mountains of Zion.
For there the Lord commands this blessing: life to eternity.

¹ Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord,
    who stand in the house of the Lord at night.
² Lift up your hands toward the sanctuary
and bless the Lord.

³ May the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.