Psalms 122 – I Was Glad When They Said Unto Me

A pilgrim's joy at reaching Jerusalem, closing with a prayer for the city's peace.

Psalms 122 – Praying for Jerusalem's Peace

Following the traveler's confidence of Psalms 121, this psalm captures the joy of arrival, opening 'I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.'


To thee have I lifted up my eyes, who dwellest in heaven.

Behold as the eyes of servants are on the hands of their masters, As the eyes of the handmaid are on the hands of her mistress: so are our eyes unto the Lord our God, until he have mercy on us.

Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us: for we are greatly filled with contempt.

For our soul is greatly filled: we are a reproach to the rich, and contempt to the proud.

Its plea to 'pray for the peace of Jerusalem' recalls the longing expressed in <a href="/bible/drc/psalms/chapter-84/10">Psalms 84:10</a>, and this short cluster of ascent psalms continues next in <a href="/bible/drc/psalms/chapter-123">Psalms 123</a>.