Psalms / Chapter 123

Psalms 123

4 verses • Westminster Leningrad Codex

Translator's Introduction

What This Chapter Is About

The psalmist lifts his eyes to God enthroned in heaven, comparing Israel's posture to that of servants watching their master's hand for the slightest signal. The waiting continues until God shows mercy. The psalm closes with a raw cry: Israel has had more than enough of the contempt of the arrogant and the scorn of the comfortable.

What Makes This Chapter Remarkable

This is one of the most concentrated psalms in the Psalter — four verses that move from silent watchfulness to desperate petition. The image of servants watching a master's hand (verses 2) is striking in its submission: the servant does not speak, does not demand, only watches. The hand will give food, give orders, give permission, or withhold. Everything depends on the hand. The psalm transfers this image directly to God: Israel watches God's hand with the same silent, total dependence. The repetition of channenu ('be gracious to us') twice in verse 3 breaks the silence of the watching — the servant finally speaks, and what comes out is not a request but a cry of saturation: we are filled to the brim with contempt.

Translation Friction

The servant-master imagery can be uncomfortable for modern readers, but the Hebrew context is specific. The eved ('servant') and shifchah ('maidservant') are members of a household, not chattel slaves in the modern sense — they have proximity to the master and depend on the master's hand for sustenance and direction. The psalm does not celebrate servitude; it uses the imagery of dependent watching to describe the posture of faith under oppression. The 'proud' and 'arrogant' (ge'ionim, sha'anannim) in verse 4 are unnamed — they could be foreign oppressors, domestic elites, or neighboring nations. The vagueness makes the psalm applicable to any situation of scorn.

Connections

The upward gaze echoes Psalm 121:1 ('I lift my eyes'), but here the eyes are lifted not to hills but to heaven itself. The servant imagery connects to Isaiah 50:4-5, where the Servant of the LORD has an ear awakened morning by morning to listen. The cry against contempt anticipates Nehemiah 4:4, where the returned exiles endure mockery during the rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls.

Psalms 123:1

שִׁ֗יר הַֽמַּ֫עֲל֥וֹת אֵלֶ֣יךָ נָ֭שָׂאתִי אֶת־עֵינַ֑י הַ֝יֹּשְׁבִ֗י בַּשָּׁמָֽיִם׃

A song of ascents. To you I lift my eyes, you who are enthroned in heaven.

KJV Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The verb nasati ('I lift') echoes Psalm 121:1 but redirects the gaze from the hills to God himself. The participle hayyoshvi ('the one sitting, the one enthroned') uses yashav, which can mean simply 'to sit' or, in royal contexts, 'to be enthroned.' God sits in heaven as a king on a throne — and the psalm positions the speaker as a subject before the sovereign.
Psalms 123:2

הִנֵּ֨ה כְעֵינֵ֪י עֲבָדִ֡ים אֶל־יַ֤ד אֲ֭דוֹנֵיהֶם כְּעֵינֵ֣י שִׁפְחָ֣ה אֶל־יַ֣ד גְּבִרְתָּ֑הּ כֵּ֥ן עֵ֝ינֵ֗ינוּ אֶל־יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵ֗ינוּ עַ֣ד שֶׁיְּחׇנֵּֽנוּ׃

Look — as the eyes of servants watch the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant watch the hand of her mistress, so our eyes watch the LORD our God until he shows us grace.

KJV Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.

Notes & Key Terms 1 term

Key Terms

חָנַן chanan
"shows grace" — to be gracious, to show favor, to have compassion, to give freely, to pity

chanan is the verbal root behind the noun chen ('grace, favor') and the name Yochanan/John ('the LORD is gracious'). It describes unmerited favor — a gift given not because the recipient earned it but because the giver chose to give. In this psalm, the repeated channenu ('be gracious to us') is the central petition.

Translator Notes

  1. We render yechonnenu as 'shows us grace' rather than 'have mercy upon us.' The verb chanan means to show favor, to be gracious, to give what is not owed. Mercy implies a response to suffering; grace implies a gift from the giver's character. The psalm asks for God to act out of who God is.
Psalms 123:3

חׇנֵּ֣נוּ יְהוָ֣ה חׇנֵּ֑נוּ כִּי־רַ֝֗ב שָׂבַ֥עְנוּ בֽוּז׃

Be gracious to us, LORD — be gracious to us, for we have had more than enough of contempt.

KJV Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us: for we are exceedingly filled with contempt.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The doubled imperative channenu YHWH channenu ('be gracious to us, LORD, be gracious to us') is urgent repetition — the servant has broken silence and the words pour out. The verb sava'nu ('we are filled, we are sated, we have had enough') uses the language of eating to describe scorn: they have been force-fed contempt until they are stuffed with it. The word buz ('contempt, scorn') describes the attitude of those who look down with dismissive disdain.
Psalms 123:4

רַבַּת֮ שָֽׂבְעָה־לָּ֢הּ נַ֫פְשֵׁ֥נוּ הַלַּ֥עַג הַשַּׁאֲנַנִּ֑ים הַ֝בּ֗וּז לִגְאֵ֥י יוֹנִֽים׃

Our soul has had more than enough of the mockery of the comfortable, the contempt of the arrogant.

KJV Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The final phrase lig'ei yonim is textually difficult. The Masoretic pointing suggests 'the proud of the arrogant' or 'the arrogant oppressors.' Some emend yonim to read ge'ionim ('the arrogant'), creating a smoother parallel with sha'anannim. We follow the Masoretic text and render the sense as 'the arrogant,' since the doubling of pride-language intensifies the characterization.
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