Psalms 131: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

This short psalm is a personal statement of calm before God. The speaker says he has no pride and does not reach after matters too big for him, and describes his settled soul as a weaned child resting with its mother. He closes by calling Israel to put its hope in the LORD, now and always.

Claim by Claim

1. 131:1
   • This is a song of ascents.
   • The psalm is attributed to David.
   • The speaker addresses the LORD.
   • The speaker's heart is not lifted up with pride.
   • The speaker's eyes are not raised in haughtiness.
   • The speaker does not occupy himself with great matters.
   • The speaker does not occupy himself with things too extraordinary for him.
2. 131:2
   • The speaker declares that he has made his soul level and calm.
   • The speaker's soul is like a weaned child upon its mother.
   • The speaker's soul within him is like a weaned child.
3. 131:3
   • Israel is called to wait in hope for the LORD.
   • That hope is to last from now on and forever.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

131:1

Lifted or "lofty" eyes was a standard Hebrew way of saying arrogance, looking at other people from above. The Hebrew phrases behind "great matters" and "things too high for me" are open: they can mean affairs too grand for the speaker's station to meddle in, or matters too deep for anyone to fathom, and the psalm does not settle which.

131:2

In ancient Israel children were normally nursed until around age three, and the weaning was marked with a feast. The picture is of a child past that point: still held by its mother, but no longer crying or struggling for milk, quiet because it is no longer demanding anything. The word rendered "soul" (Hebrew *nephesh*) means the whole living self, including its appetites and cravings, not an immaterial part inside a person.

131:3

"Israel" here is the whole people addressed as a single person. The Hebrew word behind "hope" means to wait expectantly for something to arrive, closer to "wait for" than to "wish."