Psalm 120
Good News Translation
A Prayer for Help
120 When I was in trouble, I called to the Lord,
and he answered me.
2 Save me, Lord,
from liars and deceivers.
3 You liars, what will God do to you?
How will he punish you?
4 With a soldier's sharp arrows,
with red-hot coals!
5 Living among you is as bad as living in Meshech
or among the people of Kedar.[a]
6 I have lived too long
with people who hate peace!
7 When I speak of peace,
they are for war.
Footnotes
- Psalm 120:5 Two distant regions, whose people were regarded as savages.
Psalm 120
New American Standard Bible
Prayer for Rescue from the Treacherous.
A Song of [a]Ascents.
120 (A)I cried to the Lord in my trouble,
And He answered me.
2 Rescue my soul, Lord, from (B)lying lips,
From a (C)deceitful tongue.
3 What will He give to you, and what more will He do to you,
You (D)deceitful tongue?
4 (E)Sharp arrows of the warrior,
With the burning (F)coals of the broom tree!
5 Woe to me, for I reside in (G)Meshech,
For I have settled among the (H)tents of (I)Kedar!
6 Too long has my soul had its dwelling
With those who (J)hate peace.
7 I (K)am for peace, but when I speak,
They are (L)for war.
Footnotes
- Psalm 120 Title Ex 34:24; 1 Kin 12:27
Psalm 120
Complete Jewish Bible
120 (0) A song of ascents:
(1) I called to Adonai in my distress,
and he answered me.
2 Rescue me, Adonai, from lips that tell lies,
from a tongue full of deceit.
3 What has he in store for you, deceitful tongue?
What more will he do to you?
4 A warrior’s sharp arrows,
with red-hot coals from a broom tree.
5 How wretched I am, that I’m an alien in Meshekh,
that I must live among the tents of Keidar!
6 I have had to live far too long
with those who hate peace.
7 I am all for peace;
but when I speak, they are for war.
Psalm 120
The Message
120 1-2 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.”
3-4 Do you know what’s next, can you see what’s coming,
all you bold-faced liars?
Pointed arrows and burning coals
will be your reward.
5-7 I’m doomed to live in Meshech,
cursed with a home in Kedar,
My whole life lived camping
among quarreling neighbors.
I’m all for peace, but the minute
I tell them so, they go to war!
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson