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A Song of Ascents

A Prayer for Relief

123 To you, who sit enthroned in heaven,
    I lift up my eyes.
Consider this: as the eyes of a servant focus
    on what his master provides,[a]
and as the eyes of a female servant focus[b]
    on what her mistress provides,[c]
so our eyes focus on the Lord our God,
    until he has mercy on us.

Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy,
    for we have had more than enough of contempt.
Our lives overflow
    with scorn from those who live at ease,
        with contempt from those who are proud.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 123:2 Lit. on the hand of his master
  2. Psalm 123:2 The Heb. lacks focus
  3. Psalm 123:2 Lit. on the hand of her mistress

Psalm 123

A song of ascents.

I lift up my eyes to you,
    to you who sit enthroned(A) in heaven.
As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
    as the eyes of a female slave look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord(B) our God,
    till he shows us his mercy.

Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us,
    for we have endured no end of contempt.
We have endured no end
    of ridicule from the arrogant,
    of contempt from the proud.