Psalm 120
O God of innocence with no deceit
You came to dwell with men who favored war
From earthly tyranny they sought peace
But You came that we may fight with You no more.
Thirty three years You sojourned with us
And now You stand without attorney’s aid
On trial because You have been blasphemous
In eyes that cannot see how far they’ve strayed.
So on God You call that He might set You free
And ask what shall be done to flaming tongues
“O Lord from lying lips deliver Me
From sharp arrows that make My words twisted and spun!”
“I’ve dwelled among them far too long,”You say,
With men who’d rather fight than lay down swords,
But even as they nail You for display
On beams of wood, You cry and trust the Lord
Confident that He will answer You
And Lo He has raised You from the tomb.
But the archers who spoke arrows will meet their due
And be pierced with Your arrows of flaming doom.1
In his book Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries Psalms 73-150 (Intervarsity Press, 1981) Derek Kidner notes about Psalm 120, "God's coals are hotter and God's arrows are sharper than those of they who afflict God's people with the sins of their tongue".