Psalms · 7 verses
Psalms 120
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
The speaker asks deliverance from a deceitful tongue, imagines its punishment as arrows and broom-tree coals, and then finds that his own peace-talk is answered with war.
A tongue under sentencevv. 1–4
The song opens in distress, but not in silence: the speaker cries to the LORD and says that the LORD answered. The danger is a pair of treacherous instruments, “lying lips and a deceitful tongue”. Then comes the wonderfully severe question of what such a tongue can expect, followed by arrows from a warrior and the very particular menace of “burning coals of the broom tree”.
Peace among the war-mindedvv. 5–7
The scene widens into an unhappy residence. The speaker cries “Woe to me” at dwelling in Meshech and living among the tents of Kedar, and says the stay has lasted too long among people who hate peace. His own position is plain enough: he favours peace. The extraordinary turn is that speaking of it is precisely what brings the appetite for war.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Ps 120:1A song of ascents. In my distress I cried to the LORD, and He answered me.
Ps 120:2Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips and a deceitful tongue.
Ps 120:3What will He do to you, and what will be added to you, O deceitful tongue?
Ps 120:4Sharp arrows will come from the warrior, with burning coals of the broom tree!
Ps 120:5Woe to me that I dwell in Meshech, that I live among the tents of Kedar!
Ps 120:6Too long have I dwelt among those who hate peace.
Ps 120:7I am in favor of peace; but when I speak, they want war.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 87 passages were voted onto 7 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 7Matthew 5:9Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
- 1Psalms 18:6In my distress I called upon the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From His temple He heard my voice, and my cry for His help reached His ears.
- 1Jonah 2:2saying: “In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered me. From the belly of Sheol I called for help, and You heard my voice.
- 1Psalms 118:5In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered and set me free.
- 1Hebrews 5:7During the days of Jesus’ earthly life, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence.
- 1Psalms 130:1A song of ascents. Out of the depths I cry to You, O LORD!
- 1Luke 22:44And in His anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground.
- 1Psalms 107:13Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He saved them from their distress.
- 1Isaiah 37:3–4to tell him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them.
- 1Psalms 131:1A song of ascents. Of David. My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty. I do not aspire to great things or matters too lofty for me.
- 1Isaiah 37:14–20So Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers, read it, and went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD.
- 7Psalms 109:4In return for my love they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer.
- 1Psalms 102:2Do not hide Your face from me in my day of distress. Incline Your ear to me; answer me quickly when I call.
- 1Isaiah 38:2–5Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,
- 4James 3:5–8In the same way, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it boasts of great things. Consider how small a spark sets a great forest ablaze.
- 6Matthew 10:16Behold, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
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