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.


Unto Yahweh, in the distress that befell me, I cried—and he answered me.

O Yahweh! rescue thou my soul—from the false lip, from the deceitful tongue.

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

The arrows of the hero sharpened, with burning coals of broom.

Woe is me, That I sojourn in Meshek,—That I abide near the tents of Kedar!

Long, hath my soul had her dwelling with him that hateth peace:

I, am for peace, and verily 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/rotherham/matthew/chapter-5/9">Matthew 5:9</a>, before the ascent continues in <a href="/bible/rotherham/psalms/chapter-121">Psalms 121</a>.