Psalm 122

PSALM 122 [1]

I was glad

1 I was glad when they said to me,	“Let us go to the house of Yahweh.” [2]
2 Our feet are standing	Within your gates, O Jerusalem,

3 Jerusalem, that is built	As a city that is compact together;
4 To which the tribes go up,	even the tribes of Yah
An ordinance for Israel	To give thanks to the name of Yahweh.

5 For there thrones were set for judgment,

The thrones of the house of David. [3]

6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:	“May they prosper who love you. [4]
7 “May peace be within your walls,	And prosperity within your palaces.”

8 For the sake of my brothers and my friends,

I will now say, “May peace be within you.”

9 For the sake of the house of Yahweh our God,

I will seek your good. [5]

[1] Psalms 120-134 all have the heading “A Song of Ascents (ma`alah).”

Israel’s life was one of pilgrimage/ascent whether it was from Egypt (cf. Deut.26:5-9); going up/ascending to (ma`alah/`alah) Jerusalem to appear before the Most High (’elyown); or return from exile,

Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord Yahweh, the God of Israel. For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders, and no man shall covet your land when you go up (`alah) three times a year to appear before the Yahweh your God. (Exodus 34:23-24; see also Ezra 7:9)

For on the first of the first month he began to go up from (ma`alah) Babylon; and on the first of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, because the good hand of his God was upon him. (Ezra 7:9)

These Psalms would have also brought to mind the going up of the nations to/against Jerusalem (Psalm 47:2,5,9; 87; 124:2-5; Isaiah 7:1,5-6; 14:11-23; 36:1,10).

This collection of Psalms commemorating Israel’s past journeys serves for current use of pilgrims commencing or concluding their travels.

Other groupings of Psalms include the:

¨ Kingship Psalms: Psalms 93-100

¨ Egyptian Hallel: Psalms 113-118

¨ Hallelujah Psalms: Psalms 146-150

[2] One of the chief characteristics of Hebrew poetry is repetition of words/phrases and one of the prominent forms of repetition in the Psalms is parallelism. Psalm 122 is one of several Psalms of ascent that contains staircase parallelism (see also Psalm 120; 121; 134). Verses 1-5 poetically capture the joy and anticipation of ascending to Jerusalem and the house of David. I have linked the repeated words/synonyms/concepts in bold:

						The thrones of the house of David (v.5b)
					For there thrones were set for judgment (v.5a)
				An ordinance for Israel To give thanks to the name of Yahweh (v.4b)
			To which the tribes go up, even the tribes of Yah (v.4a)
		Jerusalem, that is built As a city that is compact together (v.3)
	Our feet are standing Within your gates, O Jerusalem (v.2)
I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of Yahweh.” (v.1)

[3] The tribes not only went “up” to Jerusalem for worship but also for difficult legal cases,

“If any case is too difficult for you to decide, between one kind of homicide or another, between one kind of lawsuit or another, and between one kind of assault or another, being cases of dispute in your courts, then you shall arise and go up (`alah) to the place which Yahweh your God chooses” (Deuteronomy 17:8).

[4] Verses 6-9 could be descending and the parallel to the first half of the chiasmus in vv.1-4. Or perhaps further “ascent” is intended. I have represented vv.6-9 as a second ascending staircase although verses 1,9 link both together by “the house of Yahweh.”

			For the sake of the house of Yahweh our God, I will seek your good. (v.9)
		For the sake of my brothers and my friends, I will now say, “May peace be within you.” (v.8)
	“May peace be within your walls, And prosperity within your palaces.” (v.7)
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you. (v.6)

[5] “The last strophe [vv.6-8] is marked by sixfold alliteration playing on the name ירושׁלם, “Jerusalem” (שׁלום, “peace” [3x]; שׁאלו, “pray, ask”; שׁליו, “prosper securely”; שׁלוה, “secure prosperity”)” (Leslie Allen, Word Biblical Commentary: Psalms 101-150; revised, 213.)