Passage Research
Psalm 120 — Sermon Preparation
The first Song of Ascents, a lament from one forced to dwell among deceivers and warmongers, crying to the LORD for deliverance. Below is a research summary for Psalm 120, drawn from openly licensed scholarly databases — original-language morphology, classic sermons from the church fathers through the Puritans, and ancient geography data.
- 7
- verses
- 51 / 37
- Hebrew words / lemmas
- 7
- classic sermon excerpts
- 5
- preachers & commentators
Psalm 120 in the Hebrew
Distinctive vocabulary of this chapter, based on original-language morphology.
| Hebrew | Transliteration | Strong's | Count | Glosses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| רְמִיָּה | rᵉmîyâh | H7423 | 2 | remissness, treachery |
| לָשׁוֹן | lâshôwn | H3956 | 2 | tongue |
| שָׁכַן | shâkan | H7931 | 2 | reside, permanently stay |
| שָׁלוֹם | shâlôwm | H7965 | 2 | safe, well |
| נֶפֶשׁ | nephesh | H5315 | 2 | breathing creature, animal |
| רֶתֶם | rethem | H7574 | 1 | Spanish broom |
| שָׁנַן | shânan | H8150 | 1 | point, pierce |
How preachers through history handled this text
7 public-domain excerpts on Psalm 120, from the church fathers to the Puritans.
“This psalm is the first of those fifteen which are here put together under the title of "songs of degrees." It is well that it is not material what the meaning of that title should be, for nothing is offered towards the explication of it, no, not by the Jewish writers themselves, but what is conjectural. These psalms do not seem to be composed all by the same hand, much less all at the same time. Four of them are expressly ascribed to David, and one is said to be designed for Solomon, and perhaps penned by him; yet cxxvi. and cxxix. …”
— Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 3 (Job to Song of Solomon), on Psalm 120:1–30 (Public Domain)
Places in the text
Based on ancient-geography data
- Jerusalem— Ps 120:1
- Kedar— Ps 120:5
- Meshech— Ps 120:5
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