Psalm 123, Eyes Focused on YHWH

A song of ascents.

This is the fourth of fifteen psalms identified as "songs of ascents." It is likely that these songs were sung as people traveled to Jerusalem and then went up to the temple. The first of the songs, Psalm 120, dealt with betrayal by liars seeking to destroy the singer. The second looked to the hills and asked, "Where does my help come from?" (It was not from the hills!) The third expresses excitement at finally entering Jerusalem and being able to worship in the temple. This short psalm is a statement of submission and a request for protection.

Psalm 123:1-2, Like a maid looks to her mistress

I lift up my eyes to you,

 to you whose throne is in heaven.

 As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, 

as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, 

so our eyes look to the LORD our God,

 till he shows us his mercy.

Alter says that although the first verse is first person singular, "the psalm glides easily" into first person plural, "from individual to collective."

In the parallelism of verse 2, the slave (ebed, bond-servant) becomes maid-servant (shiphchah), possibly a personal female servant of higher standing. (It is this word that Ruth uses in Ruth 2:13 to describe her relationship to Boaz when she first meets him.)

Psalm 123:3-4, Contempt and ridicule

Have mercy on us, O LORD, 

have mercy on us, 

for we have endured much contempt.

 We have endured much ridicule from the proud,

 much contempt from the arrogant.

This short psalm turns with a plea for help. The final verse is a tricolon parallelism, three lines, not the traditional two. The pain that the people have endured is ridicule and contempt, to which the people seek the intervention of YHWH.

Some Random Thoughts

Years ago, Jan and I had a collie aussie shepherd mix, a very bright dog that was quick to learn lessons and tricks. After some training from Jan, this dog would recognize when a training session was beginning and would focus her eyes on Jan's hands, in preparation for a hand signal. 

No, we never had slaves or maidservants (!!) but we did have a devoted dog that focused on our instructions. This is the image of verse 2. 

First published November 5, 2025; updated November 5, 2025