Psalm 120

Prayer of a Returned Exile

A song of ascents.

The Lord answered me
    when I called in my distress:
Lord, deliver my soul from lying lips,
    from a treacherous tongue.

What will he inflict on you,
    O treacherous tongue,
    and what more besides?
A warrior’s arrows
    sharpened with coals of brush wood!

Alas, I am a foreigner in Meshech,
    I live among the tents of Kedar!
Too long do I live
    among those who hate peace.
When I speak of peace,
    they are for war.