Psalms
Chapter 131
This is a short psalm of David, one of the Songs of Ascents sung by people traveling up to Jerusalem. The writer says he does not think too highly of himself and does not chase after things beyond him. He has made his soul calm and settled, like a child who no longer cries for milk, and he calls all Israel to put their hope in the LORD.
Plain reading written for preteens. Clear and complete, at about a fifth grade reading level.
Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.
1LORD, I am not proud in my heart. I do not look down on other people. I do not chase after big things, or things that are too high for me to understand.
2Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child.
2I have made myself calm and quiet. I am like a child who no longer needs his mother's milk and rests with her. That is how settled my soul is.
A "weaned" child has stopped drinking milk. Such a child can sit with his mother without crying to be fed. The picture is of someone calm and content, not restless.
3Let Israel hope in the LORD from henceforth and for ever.
3Israel, put your hope in the LORD, from now on and forever.
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