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Psalm 120:1

A Song of Ascents. In my distress, I cried to the LORD. He answered me.

1A Song of Ascents. In my distress, I cried to the LORD. He answered me.
2Deliver my soul, LORD, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue.
3What will be given to you, and what will be done more to you, you deceitful tongue?
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Psalm 120:2 →
Notice

The cry comes from within distress, and the brief statement that God answered leaves the shape and timing of his answer unstated.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What distress would you name if you began your prayer where this song begins?

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What answer to prayer can you recall while facing a trouble that remains unresolved?

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How does the plea about lying lips shape your reading of the opening cry?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 121:1A Song of Ascents. I will lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from?Both are Songs of Ascents, with one recalling an answered cry and the other asking where help comes from.
Psalm 18:6In my distress I called on the LORD, and cried to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry before him came into his ears.Both speakers cry to the LORD in distress and testify that their cries reached him.
Jonah 2:2He said, “I called because of my affliction to the LORD. He answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried. You heard my voice.Both speakers recall calling to the LORD from affliction and declare that he answered.
Psalm 124:1A Song of Ascents. By David. If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, let Israel now say,Both Songs of Ascents acknowledge the LORD’s help, one through an answered cry and the other through his presence on Israel’s side.
Psalm 127:1A Song of Ascents. By Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house, they who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman guards it …Both Songs of Ascents direct attention to the LORD’s action: answering distress in one, building and guarding in the other.
2 Chronicles 14:11Asa cried to the LORD his God, and said, “LORD, there is no one besides you to help, between the mighty and him who has no strength. Help us, LORD our God; for …Asa and the singer both cry to the LORD for help under the weight of trouble.
Hebrews 5:7He, in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and petitions with strong crying and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and having been …Both passages describe cries directed to God and affirm that the one crying was heard.
Isaiah 37:3–4They said to him, “Hezekiah says, ‘Today is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of rejection; for the children have come to the birth, and there is no …Both texts name trouble, though the supplied Isaiah verse describes helplessness without yet recording a prayer or an answer.
Luke 22:44Being in agony, he prayed more earnestly. His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.Both passages describe prayer arising amid suffering, though Luke’s verse records agony without mentioning an answer.
Isaiah 37:14–20Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to the LORD’s house, and spread it before the LORD.Both depict turning toward the LORD: the singer cries out, while Hezekiah spreads a received letter before him.
Isaiah 38:2–5Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,Both describe prayer directed to the LORD, though the supplied Isaiah verse does not yet describe his response.
2 Samuel 22:7In my distress, I called on the LORD. Yes, I called to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry came into his ears.Both speakers call on the LORD in distress and recount that their cries were heard.
Where this verse fits

Answered prayer. anxiety or panic. injustice and anger.

What the Bible says about anxiety →What the Bible says about anger →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Name one present distress in prayer to YHWH

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Encouragement

The song’s opening answer does not end its pleas for help. Your prayer need not sound settled: this singer cried from distress, and YHWH answered.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 120:1. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 120 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).