Category: Psalms

A Song of Ascents.

[121:1] I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?

[121:2] My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

[121:3] He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.

[121:4] Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

[121:5] The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand.

[121:6] The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

[121:7] The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.

[121:8] The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

A Song of Ascents.

[122:1] I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!”

[122:2] Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem!

[122:3] Jerusalem—built as a city that is bound firmly together,

[122:4] to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord.

[122:5] There thrones for judgment were set, the thrones of the house of David.

[122:6] Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! “May they be secure who love you!

[122:7] Peace be within your walls and security within your towers!”

[122:8] For my brothers and companions’ sake I will say, “Peace be within you!”

[122:9] For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

[123:1] To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens!

[123:2] Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he has mercy upon us.

[123:3] Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us, for we have had more than enough of contempt.

[123:4] Our soul has had more than enough of the scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud.

A Song of Ascents.

[124:1] If it had not been the Lord who was on our side— let Israel now say—

[124:2] if it had not been the Lord who was on our side when people rose up against us,

[124:3] then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us;

[124:4] then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us;

[124:5] then over us would have gone the raging waters.

[124:6] Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth!

[124:7] We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped!

[124:8] Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

[125:1] Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever.

[125:2] As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people, from this time forth and forevermore.

[125:3] For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest on the land allotted to the righteous, lest the righteous stretch out their hands to do wrong.

[125:4] Do good, O Lord, to those who are good, and to those who are upright in their hearts!

[125:5] But those who turn aside to their crooked ways the Lord will lead away with evildoers! Peace be upon Israel!

A Song of Ascents.

[126:1] When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.

[126:2] Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”

[126:3] The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad.

[126:4] Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like streams in the Negeb!

[126:5] Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!

[126:6] He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

A Song of Ascents.

[127:1] Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.

[127:2] It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.

[127:3] Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.

[127:4] Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth.

[127:5] Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon.

[128:1] Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways!

[128:2] You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.

[128:3] Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table.

[128:4] Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.

[128:5] The Lord bless you from Zion! May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life!

[128:6] May you see your children’s children! Peace be upon Israel!

A Song of Ascents.

[129:1] “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth”— let Israel now say—

[129:2] “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me.

[129:3] The plowers plowed upon my back; they made long their furrows.”

[129:4] The Lord is righteous; he has cut the cords of the wicked.

[129:5] May all who hate Zion be put to shame and turned backward!

[129:6] Let them be like the grass on the housetops, which withers before it grows up,

[129:7] with which the reaper does not fill his hand nor the binder of sheaves his arms,

[129:8] nor do those who pass by say, “The blessing of the Lord be upon you! We bless you in the name of the Lord!”

A Song of Ascents.

[130:1] Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!

[130:2] O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!

[130:3] If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?

[130:4] But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.

[130:5] I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;

[130:6] my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.

[130:7] O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.

[130:8] And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.