July 13
Psalms 120:1 — 131:3
A Song of the Ascents.
120 To Jehovah I called in the distress of mine,
And he proceeded to answer me.
2 O Jehovah, do deliver my soul from false lips,
From the tricky tongue.
3 What will one give to you, and what will one add to you,
O you tricky tongue?
4 Sharpened arrows of a mighty man,
Along with burning coals of the broom trees.
5 Woe to me, for I have resided as an alien in Meshech!
I have tabernacled together with the tents of Kedar.
6 For too long a time my soul has tabernacled
With the haters of peace.
7 I stand for peace; but when I speak,
They are for war.
A Song for the Ascents.
121 I shall raise my eyes to the mountains.
From where will my help come?
2 My help is from Jehovah,
The Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He cannot possibly allow your foot to totter.
The One guarding you cannot possibly be drowsy.
4 Look! He will not be drowsy nor go to sleep,
He that is guarding Israel.
5 Jehovah is guarding you.
Jehovah is your shade on your right hand.
6 By day the sun itself will not strike you,
Nor the moon by night.
7 Jehovah himself will guard you against all calamity.
He will guard your soul.
8 Jehovah himself will guard your going out and your coming in
From now on and to time indefinite.
A Song of the Ascents. Of David.
122 I rejoiced when they were saying to me:
“To the house of Jehovah let us go.”
2 Our feet proved to be standing
Within your gates, O Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem is one that is built like a city
That has been joined together in oneness,
4 To which the tribes have gone up,
The tribes of Jah,
As a reminder to Israel
To give thanks to the name of Jehovah.
5 For there the thrones for judgment have been sitting,
Thrones for the house of David.
6 Ask, O YOU people, for the peace of Jerusalem.
Those loving you, [O city,] will be free from care.
7 May peace continue within your rampart,
Freedom from care within your dwelling towers.
8 For the sake of my brothers and my companions I will now speak:
“May there be peace within you.”
9 For the sake of the house of Jehovah our God
I will keep seeking good for you.
A Song of the Ascents.
123 To you I have raised my eyes,
O You who are dwelling in the heavens.
2 Look! As the eyes of servants are toward the hand of their master,
As the eyes of a maidservant are toward the hand of her mistress,
So our eyes are toward Jehovah our God
Until he shows us favor.
3 Show us favor, O Jehovah, show us favor;
For to an abundance we have been glutted with contempt.
4 Abundantly our soul has been glutted with the derision of those who are at ease,
Of the contempt on the part of the arrogant ones.
A Song of the Ascents. Of David.
124 “Had it not been that Jehovah proved to be for us,”
Let Israel now say,
2 “Had it not been that Jehovah proved to be for us
When men rose up against us,
3 Then they would have swallowed us up even alive,
When their anger was burning against us.
4 Then the very waters would have washed us away,
The torrent itself would have passed over our soul.
5 Then there would have passed over our soul
The waters of presumptuousness.
6 Blessed be Jehovah, who has not given us
As a prey to their teeth.
7 Our soul is like a bird that is escaped
From the trap of baiters.
The trap is broken,
And we ourselves have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of Jehovah,
The Maker of heaven and earth.”
A Song of the Ascents.
125 Those trusting in Jehovah
Are like Mount Zion, which cannot be made to totter, but dwells even to time indefinite.
2 Jerusalem—as mountains are all around it,
So Jehovah is all around his people
From now on and to time indefinite.
3 For the scepter of wickedness will not keep resting upon the lot of the righteous ones,
In order that the righteous ones may not thrust out their hand upon any wrongdoing.
4 O do good, O Jehovah, to the good ones,
Even to the ones upright in their hearts.
5 As for those turning aside to their crooked ways,
Jehovah will make them go away with the practicers of what is hurtful.
There
will be peace upon Israel.
A Song of the Ascents.
126 When Jehovah gathered back the captive ones of Zion,
We became like those who were dreaming.
2 At that time our mouth came to be filled with laughter,
And our tongue with a joyful cry.
At that time they proceeded to say among the nations:
“Jehovah has done a great thing in what he has done with them.”
3 Jehovah has done a great thing in what he has done with us.
We have become joyful.
4 Do gather back, O Jehovah, our company of captives,
Like streambeds in the Negeb.
5 Those sowing seed with tears
Will reap even with a joyful cry.
6 The one that without fail goes forth, even weeping,
Carrying along a bagful of seed,
Will without fail come in with a joyful cry,
Carrying along his sheaves.
A Song of the Ascents. Of Solomon.
127 Unless Jehovah himself builds the house,
It is to no avail that its builders have worked hard on it.
Unless Jehovah himself guards the city,
It is to no avail that the guard has kept awake.
2 To no avail it is for YOU men that YOU are rising up early,
That YOU are sitting down late,
That YOU are eating food with pains.
Just like this he gives sleep even to his beloved one.
3 Look! Sons are an inheritance from Jehovah;
The fruitage of the belly is a reward.
4 Like arrows in the hand of a mighty man,
So are the sons of youth.
5 Happy is the able-bodied man that has filled his quiver with them.
They will not be ashamed,
For they will speak with enemies in the gate.
A Song of the Ascents.
128 Happy is everyone fearing Jehovah,
Who is walking in his ways.
2 For you will eat the toil of your own hands.
Happy you will be and it will be well with you.
3 Your wife will be like a fruit-bearing vine
In the innermost parts of your house.
Your sons will be like slips of olive trees all around your table.
4 Look! That is how the able-bodied man will be blessed
Who fears Jehovah.
5 Jehovah will bless you out of Zion.
See also the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life,
6 And see the sons of your sons.
May there be peace upon Israel.
A Song of the Ascents.
129 “Long enough they have shown hostility to me from my youth,”
Let Israel now say,
2 “Long enough they have shown hostility to me from my youth;
Yet they have not prevailed over me.
3 Plowmen have plowed upon my very back;
They have lengthened their furrows.”
4 Jehovah is righteous.
He has cut in pieces the ropes of the wicked ones.
5 They will be ashamed and turn themselves back,
All those hating Zion.
6 They will become like green grass of the roofs,
Which before it has been torn out has dried up,
7 With which the reaper has not filled his own hand,
Nor anyone gathering sheaves his own bosom.
8 Nor have those passing by said:
“The blessing of Jehovah be upon YOU men.
We have blessed YOU in the name of Jehovah.”
A Song of the Ascents.
130 Out of the depths I have called upon you, O Jehovah.
2 O Jehovah, do hear my voice.
May your ears prove to be attentive to the voice of my entreaties.
3 If errors were what you watch, O Jah,
O Jehovah, who could stand?
4 For there is the [true] forgiveness with you,
In order that you may be feared.
5 I have hoped, O Jehovah, my soul has hoped,
And for his word I have waited.
6 My soul [has waited] for Jehovah
More than watchmen for the morning,
Watching for the morning.
7 Let Israel keep waiting for Jehovah.
For there is loving-kindness with Jehovah,
And abundantly so is there redemption with him.
8 And he himself will redeem Israel out of all his errors.
A Song of the Ascents. Of David.
131 O Jehovah, my heart has not been haughty,
Nor have my eyes been lofty;
Nor have I walked in things too great,
Nor in things too wonderful for me.
2 Surely I have soothed and quieted my soul
Like a weanling upon his mother.
My soul is like a weanling upon me.
3 Let Israel wait for Jehovah
From now on and to time indefinite.