1 A Song of Degrees. Unto thee who dwellest in heaven have I lifted up mine eyes. 2 Behold, as the eyes of servants [are directed] to the hands of their masters, [and] as the eyes of a maid-servant to the hands of her mistress; so our eyes [are directed] to the Lord our God, until he have mercy upon us. 3 Have pity upon us, O Lord, have pity upon us: for we are exceedingly filled with contempt. 4 [Yea], our soul has been exceedingly filled [with it]: [let] the reproach [be] to them that are at ease, and contempt to the proud.
Psalms · Brenton's English Septuagint
Psalm 122 (123) Brenton's English Septuagint
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · Psalm 123 · About the recordings
Notes on this text (3)
- Greek and Latin Bibles number most Psalms one lower than Hebrew and English Bibles.
- Square brackets mark words Brenton supplied for English sense.
- Old Testament only (no New Testament). First printed 1844; the 1851 edition added the deuterocanonical books.
Cross references (4)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info. References use English (Hebrew-based) verse numbers; links open the passage in Brenton.
- 1 Psalm 121:1; Psalm 141:8; Psalm 25:15; Psalm 2:4; Luke 18:13
- 2 Psalm 130:5–6; Lamentations 3:25–26; Psalm 25:15; Psalm 40:1–3; Genesis 49:18
- 3 Psalm 57:1; Luke 18:11–13; Psalm 89:50–51; Nehemiah 4:2–4; Psalm 4:1
- 4 Psalm 119:51; Job 12:5; Acts 17:32; Isaiah 32:11; 1 Corinthians 4:13
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations). Verse numbers below follow the Hebrew/English numbering: 123.
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
This Psalm is a "Song of degrees;" as we have often said to you, for these degrees are not of descent, but of ascent. He therefore longeth to ascend. And whither doth he wish to ascend, save into heaven? What meaneth, into heaven? Doth he wish to ascend that he may be with the sun, moon, and stars?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)
… and from seducing whom he is restrained by that chain and imprisonment; but they are used in conformity with that usage frequently employed in Scripture and exemplified in the psalm, "So our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until He have mercy upon us," --not as if the eyes of His servants would no longer wait upon the Lord …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
Do we think we can say, "To Thee have I lifted up my soul, O Thou that dwellest in the heavens"? But burdened as we are with so great a weight, under which we groan, how shall I lift up my soul unless He lift it with me who laid His own down for me?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 7 (1888)