the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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King James Version
Psalms 120:1
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
- Nave'sDictionaries:
- AmericanEncyclopedias:
- InternationalParallel Translations
A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.
I took my troubles to the Lord ; I cried out to him, and he answered my prayer.A Song of Ascents. In my distress I cried to Yahweh, And he answered me.
A psalm for going up to worship.
When I was in trouble, I called to the Lord , and he answered me.A song of ascents.
In my distress I cried out to the Lord and he answered me.A Song of degrees. In my distress I cried to the LORD, and he heard me.
In my trouble I cried to the LORD, And He answered me.
A Song of Ascents.
In my distress I called to the Lord , and he answered me.The `title of the hundrid and nyntenthe salm. The song of greces. Whanne Y was set in tribulacioun, Y criede to the Lord; and he herde me.
A Song of Ascents. In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and he answered me.
A Song of Ascents. In my distress I cried to the LORD, and He answered me.
(A song for worship.)
When I am in trouble, I pray,A Song of Ascents.
In my distress I cried unto Jehovah, And he answered me.A song of ascents: I called to Adonai in my distress, and he answered me.
A Song of degrees.
In my trouble I called unto Jehovah, and he answered me.A song for going up to the Temple.
I was in trouble. I called to the Lord for help, and he answered me!A Song of Ascents.
[A song of degrees.] In my distresse I cried vnto the Lord: and hee heard me.
I cried to the Lord in my trouble, and He answered me.
A Song of Ascents.
In my distress I cry to the Lord , that he may answer me:I called vnto the Lorde in my trouble, and hee heard me.
IN my distress I cried to the LORD, and he heard me.
When I was in trouble, I called to the Lord , and he answered me.
Unto Yahweh, in the distress that befell me, I cried - and he answered me.
(119-1) In my trouble I cried to the Lord: and he heard me.
A Song of Ascents. In my distress I cry to the LORD, that he may answer me:
When I was in trouble I called vpon God: and he hearde me.
In mine affliction I cried to the Lord, and he hearkened to me.
In my distress I called to the Lord,and he answered me.
A song of ascents.
In my distress I called to Yahweh, and he answered me.A Song of Ascents. In my distress I cried to Jehovah, and He answered me.
A Song of the Ascents. Unto Jehovah in my distress I have called, And He answereth me.
When I am in trouble, I call vpon ye LORDE, & he answereth me.
A Pilgrim Song I'm in trouble. I cry to God , desperate for an answer: "Deliver me from the liars, God ! They smile so sweetly but lie through their teeth."
I cried to the LORD in my trouble, And He answered me.
In my distress I cried to the LORD, And He heard me.
A Song of Ascents.
In my trouble I cried to the Lord , And He answered me.In my distress I called to Yahweh,And He answered me.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
my distress: Psalms 18:6, Psalms 30:7, Psalms 30:8, Psalms 50:15, Psalms 107:13, Psalms 116:3, Psalms 116:4, Psalms 118:5, Isaiah 37:3, Isaiah 37:4, Isaiah 37:14-20, Isaiah 38:2-5, Jonah 2:2, Luke 22:44, Hebrews 5:7
Reciprocal: Judges 15:19 - Enhakkore 2 Samuel 22:7 - my distress 2 Chronicles 14:11 - cried unto Psalms 6:9 - hath heard
Gill's Notes on the Bible
In my distress I cried unto the Lord,.... Being at a distance from his own country, or, however, from the house of God; persecuted by men, under the lash of their tongues; reproached, abused, and belied by them: in this his case and circumstances, he betook himself by prayer to the Lord, and importuned help and deliverance of him, knowing that none could help him as he; see Psalms 18:6;
and he heard me; answered him, and delivered him. The petition he put up follows, which shows his case, and his particular distress.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
In my distress - In my suffering, as arising from slander, Psalms 120:2-3. There are few forms of suffering more keen than those caused by slander:
“Whose edge is sharper than the sword; whose tongue
Outvenoms all the worms of Nile; whose breath
Rides on the posting winds, and doth belie
All corners of the world: kings, queens, and states,
Maids, matrons, nay, the secrets of the grave
This viperous slander enters.”
Cymbeline, iii. 4.
It is one of those things which a man cannot guard against; which he cannot repel by force; whose origin he cannot always trace; which will go where a vindication will not follow; whose effects will live long after the slander is refuted; which will adhere to a man, or leave a trait of suspicion, even after the most successful vindication, for the effect will be to make a second slander more easily credited than the first was.
I cried unto the Lord, and he heard me - I had no other resource. I could not meet the slander. I could not refute it. I could not prevent its effects on my reputation, and all that I could do was to commit the case to the Lord. See the notes at Psalms 37:5-6.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
PSALM CXX
The psalmist, in great distress, calls on the Lord for
deliverance from calumny and defamation, 1, 2;
shows the punishment that awaits his persecutor, 3, 4;
deplores the necessity of his residence with the ungodly, 5-7.
NOTES ON PSALM CXX
This Psalm, and all the rest that follow it, to the end of Psalms 134:0, fifteen in number, are called Psalms of Degrees; for thus the Hebrew title המעלות hammaaloth is generally translated, as coming from the root עלה alah, to ascend or mount upwards. Hence מעלות maaloth, steps or stairs for ascending, 1 Kings 10:19-20; 2 Kings 9:13. But as the word may be applied to elevation in general, hence some have thought that it may here signify the elevation of voice; "these Psalms being sung with the highest elevations of voice and music." Others have thought the word expresses rather the matter of these Psalms, as being of peculiar excellence: and hence Junius and Tremellius prefix to each Canticum excellentissimum, "A most excellent ode."
R. D. Kimchi says, "There were fifteen steps by which the priests ascended into the temple, on each of which they sang one of these fifteen Psalms." This opinion I find referred to in the Apocryphal Gospel of the birth of Mary: "Her parents brought her to the temple, and set her upon one of the steps. Now there are fifteen steps about the temple, by which they go up to it, according to the fifteen Psalms of Degrees." But the existence of such steps and practices cannot be proved.
Aben Ezra supposes that the word means some kind of tune sung to these Psalms. It is more likely, if the title be really ancient, that it was affixed to them on account of their being sung on the return from the Babylonish captivity, as the people were going up to Jerusalem; for though some of them are attributed to David, yet it is very probable that they were all made long after his time, and probably during the captivity, or about the end of it. The author of these fifteen Psalms is not known; and most probably they were not the work of one person. They have been attributed to David, to Solomon, to Ezra, to Haggai, to Zechariah, and to Malachi, without any positive evidence. They are, however, excellent in their kind, and written with much elegance; containing strong and nervous sentiments of the most exalted piety, expressed with great felicity of language in a few words.
Verse Psalms 120:1. In my distress — Through the causes afterwards mentioned.
I cried unto the Lord — Made strong supplication for help.
And he heard one. — Answered my prayer by comforting my soul.
It appears to be a prayer of the captives in Babylon for complete liberty; or perhaps he recites the prayer the Israelites had made previously to their restoration.
