Psalms 120 – Deliver Me from Lying Lips

The first Song of degrees, crying out against deceit and craving a peace others reject.

Psalms 120 – A Cry for Deliverance from Lies

Coming after the long meditation of Psalms 119, this first of the Songs of degrees cries out against 'lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue' troubling the psalmist among hostile neighbors.


In my distress I cried to Jehovah, and he answered me.

Deliver my soul, O Jehovah, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue.

What shall be given to thee, and what shall be done more to thee, thou deceitful tongue?

Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.

Woe is me, that I sojourn in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!

My soul has long had her dwelling with him who hates peace.

I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war.

The closing complaint, 'I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war,' stands in contrast to the blessing on peacemakers in <a href="/bible/acv/matthew/chapter-5/9">Matthew 5:9</a>, before the ascent continues in <a href="/bible/acv/psalms/chapter-121">Psalms 121</a>.