BIBLE CHAPTER STUDY
Psalms 120 — A Cry Against Deceit and the Longing for Peace
A pilgrim cries out from distress, asks the LORD to deliver him from deceitful speech, pronounces judgment on the lying tongue, laments living among hostile people, and resolves to seek peace.
Scripture
1A Song of Ascents. In my distress I cried unto Jehovah, And he answered me.
2Deliver my soul, O Jehovah, from lying lips, And from a deceitful tongue.
3What shall be given unto thee, and what shall be done more unto thee, Thou deceitful tongue?
4Sharp arrows of the mighty, With coals of juniper.
5Woe is me, that I sojourn in Meshech, That I dwell among the tents of Kedar!
6My soul hath long had her dwelling With him that hateth peace.
7I am for peace: But when I speak, they are for war.
What this passage means
The psalm opens with a confession that prayer was heard: the psalmist called to Jehovah from distress and received an answer (v. 1). This sets the tone — the rest of the song is built on the premise that the LORD listens before he speaks. The plea then becomes specific: deliver my life from lying lips and a deceitful tongue (v. 2). The enemy is not a foreign army but speech that weaponizes falsehood.
Verses 3–4 turn the tables rhetorically. The psalmist asks the lying tongue what it deserves and answers with imagery of judgment: warrior's sharp arrows and burning coals of broom (juniper) (vv. 3–4). The point is that deceptive speech has consequences that match its destructive power — it is treated as an act of war.
Verses 5–7 shift from the inner threat to the social setting. The speaker laments living among hostile people — described poetically as Meshech and the tents of Kedar — and being surrounded by those who hate peace (vv. 5–6). Even when he is for peace, his words are answered with war (v. 7). The psalm therefore links personal deceit, hostile surroundings, and the strange burden of being a peacemaker.
Context
Psalms 120 is the first of the fifteen Songs of Ascents (שִׁיר הַמַּעֲלוֹת), a collection that runs from chapter 120 to 134 and that includes Psalms 125 and 131 within the same group. The provided cross references also point to Psalms 130 and 131, both labeled Songs of Ascents, suggesting that 120 functions as the entry point of a cluster rather than as an isolated lyric. Within the chapter itself no narrative setting is given; the speaker simply identifies a location of hostility and a personal commitment to peace.
The curated note provided for this chapter is a backfill marker indicating the chapter was added from outside the highest-priority tiers. No specific historical situation, author, or dating is supplied in the provided material, so the reference page treats the psalm on its own terms: as the prayer of a worshipper surrounded by deceit and conflict, trusting that the LORD who answers prayer (v. 1) will also act against the lying tongue (vv. 3–4).
Key words in the original
- H7423 רְמִיָּה (remiyyah), glossed 'deceitful', refers to remissness or treachery. It qualifies the tongue in verses 2 and 3, presenting deceit not as an occasional slip but as the defining character of the speech that threatens the psalmist.
Related verses
- Psalms 18:6 Echoes the psalmist's opening: crying to the LORD from distress and being heard out of his temple reinforces the certainty that the prayer in Psalm 120:1 is genuinely heard.
- Jonah 2:2 Jonah's prayer from the belly of Sheol parallels the cry of Psalm 120:1: calling 'by reason of mine affliction' and being answered models the psalmist's situation of answered prayer from the depths.
- Matthew 5:9 Jesus' beatitude that the peacemakers will be called sons of God sharpens the costly self-description of Psalm 120:7, where the speaker is 'for peace' but surrounded by those who choose war.
Common questions
Why does Psalm 120 single out the tongue as the enemy?
The psalmist's distress is not described as physical combat but as the harm done by lying lips and a deceitful tongue (v. 2). The enemy is speech that distorts reality, and the psalm therefore devotes verses 3–4 to calling down judgment on that very instrument.
Who are 'Meshech' and 'Kedar' in verse 5?
The verse itself calls them places of sojourning and dwelling; the psalm uses them as poetic descriptions of a hostile environment, not as a literal itinerary. The provided material does not assign a specific historical setting, so the names function as imagery for living among those who hate peace.
Does Psalm 120 describe an answered prayer?
Yes. Verse 1 states plainly, 'In my distress I cried unto Jehovah, and he answered me.' The rest of the psalm unfolds from that answered prayer, asking for ongoing deliverance from deceit and committing to pursue peace in a hostile setting.