Chapter Text
123:1 Unto thee do I lift up mine eyes, O thou that sittest in the heavens.
123:2 Behold, as the eyes of servants [look] unto the hand of their master, As the eyes of a maid unto the hand of her mistress; So our eyes [look] unto Jehovah our God, Until he have mercy upon us.
123:3 Have mercy upon us, O Jehovah, have mercy upon us; For we are exceedingly filled with contempt.
123:4 Our soul is exceedingly filled With the scoffing of those that are at ease, And with the contempt of the proud. Psalm 124 A Song of Ascents; of David.
Study Lenses
The verse centers on "mercy", "thee", "lift", "mine", "eyes", "thou", "sittest", and "heavens". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "mercy" and "thee", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The local ASV text gives this verse as the immediate unit, so "mercy" and "thee" carries the first interpretive weight. In Psalms context, the local focus is worship, trust, the LORD's kingship, and covenant mercy.
A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "mercy" and "thee" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.