Psalms 120:1-7·~1 min
In My Distress I Cried to the LORD
In distress the speaker cried to the LORD and was answered, but the burden remains clear: he longs to be delivered from deceitful speech and from a setting defined by hostility. The psalm moves from prayer, to warning, to lament, until it reaches its final contrast between the speaker's desire for peace and everyone else's readiness for war.
A1 song of ascents. 2Deliver my soul, O LORD, 3What will He do to you, 4Sharp arrows will come from the warrior, 5Woe to me that I dwell in Meshech, 6Too long have I dwelt 7I am in favor of peace;
Section summaryThe psalmist recalls crying to the LORD in distress and being answered, then asks for deliverance from deceitful speech. He names the judgment that awaits the liar, laments dwelling too long among hostile peoples, and closes by grieving the fact that while he speaks for peace, those around him rise immediately toward war.
Role in the chapterThis section functions as a pilgrim's opening complaint. It frames ascent not as escape from trouble already solved, but as a movement toward God that begins amid falsehood, estrangement, and the exhaustion of living among people who do not share the speaker's peaceable mind.