Chapter Text
123:1 Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.
123:2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.
123:3 Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us: for we are exceedingly filled with contempt.
123:4 Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.
Study Lenses
The verse centers on "mercy", "thee", "lift", "mine", "eyes", "thou", "dwellest", 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 KJV 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.