Prayer for Relief from Contempt

A Song of Ascents.

123 Unto You I lift up my eyes,

O You who dwell in the heavens.

2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters,

As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,

So our eyes look to the Lord our God,

Until He has mercy on us.

3 Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us!

For we are exceedingly filled with contempt.

4 Our soul is exceedingly filled

With the scorn of those who are at ease,

With the contempt of the proud.

The Lord the Defense of His People

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

124 “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side,”

Let Israel now say—

2 “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side,

When men rose up against us,

3 Then they would have swallowed us alive,

When their wrath was kindled against us;

4 Then the waters would have overwhelmed us,

The stream would have gone over our soul;

5 Then the swollen waters

Would have gone over our soul.”

6 Blessed be the Lord,

Who has not given us as prey to their teeth.

7 Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers;[a]

The snare is broken, and we have escaped.

8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,

Who made heaven and earth.

The Lord the Strength of His People

A Song of Ascents.

125 Those who trust in the Lord

Are like Mount Zion,

Which cannot be moved, but abides forever.

2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,

So the Lord surrounds His people

From this time forth and forever.

3 For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest

On the land allotted to the righteous,

Lest the righteous reach out their hands to iniquity.