Psalms
Chapter 123
This short psalm is a prayer from people who are being looked down on. The writer looks up to God the way a servant watches a master's hand, waiting for help. The prayer asks God again and again for mercy, because the people have taken all the mocking they can bear.
Plain reading written for preteens. Clear and complete, at about a fifth grade reading level.
Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.
1I look up to you, the God who lives in heaven.
2Behold, 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.
2Servants watch their master's hand, waiting for a sign. A servant girl watches her mistress's hand the same way. That is how we watch the LORD our God. We keep watching until he is kind to us.
In this psalm the servants watch the master's hand because that is where their next order, or their next meal, will come from.
3Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us: for we are exceedingly filled with contempt.
3Be kind to us, LORD. Please be kind to us. We have taken all the insults we can stand.
4Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.
4We have had our fill of the mocking of people who have easy lives. We have had our fill of the scorn of proud people.
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