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Psalm 123 is a short Psalm of upward-looking humility. It begins with one pair of lifted eyes and opens into a community waiting for mercy. When the contempt of others tempts us to defend ourselves without rest, the Psalm turns us toward the Lord. It does not demand silence about wrongdoing; it gives the wounded words to bring their hurt to God.

Psalm 123 (LXX 122) - Unto Thee Have I Lifted Up Mine Eyes

Psalm Metadata

Field	Notes
NKJV / Masoretic numbering	Psalm 123
Septuagint / Coptic numbering	Psalm 122
Accepted author	A Song of Ascents.
Period in author’s life	No named author or historical episode is given. The Psalm belongs to the pilgrim ascent sequence and fits the prayer of the faithful under contempt.
Christ prophecy status	Christological by theological fulfillment rather than by a single predictive verse. The one who waits for mercy under contempt is fulfilled in Christ and in His Body.
Coptic lectionary/service use	Verified: included in the Agpeya at Eleventh Hour (Vespers) and Midnight Prayer - Second Watch under printed Psalm 123. No additional annual, Pascha, or special-service reference is verified in available lectionary references.
Numbering issue	This study uses MT Psalm 123 and Brenton LXX Psalm 122. The two numbering systems must be checked for each Psalm rather than generalized as a fixed offset.

Historical and Scriptural Context

The earlier Songs of Ascents move from distress to the Lord’s help and the joy of Jerusalem. Psalm 123 gives the pilgrim a posture for the road: eyes lifted toward God, not fixed only on the scorn of others. Such trust does not rule out wise planning or honest speech. It refuses to make self-reliance or revenge our refuge.

The Psalm names a temptation faced by the faithful in every age: to despair under contempt or to answer it with contempt of their own. Instead, the worshippers bring their pain and their longing for justice before the Lord.

Geographical Significance ⛰️

The Songs of Ascents are associated with the journey up to Jerusalem. Here the speaker addresses the One who dwells in heaven. This is not an escape from earth: the upward gaze turns the pilgrim toward the God who hears His people amid earthly trouble.

The Characters 👥

The Lord who dwells in heaven. The sovereign Lord to whom the worshipper looks for mercy.

The praying community. The individual who lifts the eyes and the servants and handmaid whose waiting becomes the prayer of the whole people.

The proud and the self-satisfied. Those at ease whose pride spills over into contempt for others.

🕯️ Light from the Word

Psalm 122:1, the first movement is upward

122:1 A Song of Degrees. Unto thee who dwellest in heaven have I lifted up mine eyes.

The prayer begins in the singular: one person lifts the eyes to the Lord. In the next verse that gaze becomes the shared gaze of a people. What one person prays in distress becomes a prayer the Church can carry together.

St Augustine hears in the singular voice the Church throughout the world, made one in Christ. He warns that whoever makes progress must “so ascend as not to fall”: spiritual growth becomes a fall when it feeds pride.¹ Looking toward God frees us from making our own progress the center of attention.

St Athanasius describes the Psalms as a mirror in which we recognize our hearts and find words for prayer. St Gregory of Nyssa sees the Psalter guiding us toward virtue and the blessed life of likeness to God. Both speak of the Psalter as a whole, helping us receive this short Psalm as a prayer to live.

The Church learns this gaze from Christ, who lived in perfect attention to the Father. In Jesus’ parable, the tax collector does not dare lift his eyes, yet he too turns to God for mercy (Luke 18:9–14). The point is not a required physical pose; it is a heart reaching toward the Lord.

Lesson Guide

• Key phrases: “Unto thee”; “have I lifted up mine eyes.”
• Emphasize: spiritual ascent begins with holy orientation, not self-confidence.
• Avoid: turning the Psalm into vague optimism. It is a disciplined act of dependence.

Psalm 122:2, the eyes of servants waiting for the hand

122:2 Behold, as the eyes of servants are directed to the hands of their masters, and as the eyes of a maid-servant to the hands of her mistress; so our eyes are directed to the Lord our God, until he have mercy upon us.

A servant watches a master’s hand for what will be given or asked; a maid-servant watches her mistress. The Psalm draws on that attentiveness to describe the community’s dependence on the Lord. Such human relationships could be harsh. The image is not permission for anyone to harm or control another, nor should an abuser’s hand be mistaken for God’s.

In a longer passage, Augustine urges the hearer, “When therefore thou hearest Christ, lift up thine eyes to the hands of thy Master”; for him, the servant and the handmaid both speak for the Church, which can await Christ with trust.² Theodoret hears in the waiting a hope that sets no deadline for God.³

Prayer is more than presenting our requests and hurrying away. It is also receptive attention to the Lord. Mercy is not seized. It is received. Such waiting can coexist with seeking safety, asking a trustworthy person for help, and speaking truthfully about wrongdoing.

The Son’s obedience to the Father gives the Church its pattern of trust. In Christ we come to the Father as children: still dependent, but secure in His love.

Lesson Guide

• Key phrases: “our eyes are directed to the Lord our God”; “until he have mercy upon us.”
• Emphasize: prayer as patient, obedient attention.
• Avoid: reducing mercy to instant relief on our timetable.

Psalm 122:3-4, contempt from the proud and the cry for mercy

122:3 Have pity upon us, O Lord, have pity upon us: for we are exceedingly filled with contempt.
122:4 Yea, our soul has been exceedingly filled with it: let the reproach be to them that are at ease, and contempt to the proud.

Now the wound is named. Twice the people cry for pity; twice they say they are filled. The contempt is something poured upon them, not a confession that they are worthless. Their repeated plea gives pain a voice before God.

The final clause does more than describe that pain: it asks that reproach fall on those at ease and contempt on the proud. Theodoret contrasts this Septuagint petition with Symmachus’s rendering, which describes the mockery received; here he recognizes a request that God reverse the situation.⁴ The prayer entrusts vindication and judgment to God. It does not authorize the wounded to humiliate their enemies or take private revenge. Seeking truthful justice and showing mercy belong together.

Recalling Paul’s warning in 2 Timothy 3:12, Augustine writes, “All that will live piously according to Christ, must needs suffer reproof”, and goes on to describe people who mock Christian hope because they cannot see it.⁵ He is describing one form of scorn, not claiming that every critic has the same motive.

Christ Himself was mocked and struck; He also spoke truthfully to Pilate about his authority (John 19:1–11). Hebrews asks us to consider His endurance so that we do not lose heart (Hebrews 12:1–3). He is innocent and needs no forgiveness; the Church asks for mercy through Him, not because He shares our sins.

Contempt can make the soul either bitter or servile. Psalm 123 chooses neither. It does not flatter the proud, nor does it become them. It seeks justice without making contempt its own language.

Lesson Guide

• Key phrases: “Have pity upon us, O Lord”; “contempt to the proud.”
• Emphasize: the faithful bring scorn into prayer and entrust vindication to God.
• Avoid: treating pain as weakness or the plea for vindication as permission for revenge.

The Church’s Voice in Worship 📖

The Agpeya includes this Psalm, numbered 122 (123), at the Eleventh Hour (Vespers) and in the Midnight Prayer’s Second Watch. The Eleventh Hour Gospel tells how Christ heals Simon’s mother-in-law and others brought to Him at sunset (Luke 4:38–41). Its prayers join repentance and thanksgiving for the day to a request for peace through the night.

In the Second Watch Gospel, a woman weeps at Jesus’ feet, anoints them, and hears His assurance of forgiveness (Luke 7:36–50). Its litanies ask for repentance and mercy. The conclusion in both hours prays for the care of body and soul. These prayers do not imply that abuse is deserved or promise an immediate cure.

Iconography Connection 🖼️

The Psalm may be read beside an icon of a saint praying with raised hands or eyes, or of the righteous under trial. Such an image is a meditation rather than a required illustration: its stillness can remind us of a heart attentive to God.

Spiritual Fruit 🍇

1. Notice where your eyes go first in distress. When you find yourself replaying someone’s scorn, gently return to God with a plea for mercy.
2. Practice waiting prayer. If words are hard, borrow the Psalm’s plea for pity and leave room for quiet.
3. Bring contempt to God rather than building an identity around it. Name the hurt honestly, and ask for grace not to rehearse revenge.
4. Learn the difference between humility and passivity. If you are unsafe, seek help from someone trustworthy and, when possible, move to safety. Truthful boundaries and justice can belong with prayer.
5. Let Christ’s meekness become your school. Remember how He bore mockery without surrendering love, and ask for grace not to become contemptuous yourself.

Teacher's Notes

• Timing: 10 minutes for the lifted eyes, 12 minutes for the servants waiting on the hand, 15 minutes for contempt and mercy, 10 minutes for application.
• Where to linger: the movement from one voice to the community, Augustine on the hands of the Master, and the final petition for reversal.
• Key phrase to say slowly: “So our eyes are directed to the Lord our God, until he have mercy upon us.”
• For discussion: What changes when my prayer becomes our prayer? What might waiting for mercy look like alongside a truthful, safe response to harm?
• Pastoral warning: do not teach humility as remaining in abuse or keeping silent about wrongdoing. Encourage safety and trustworthy help.

Glossary

• Song of Ascents: A Psalm in a group associated with going up to Jerusalem; Christians also hear an image of spiritual ascent toward God.
• Mercy: God’s pity, healing favor, and saving compassion, not limited to immediate relief.
• The proud: Those whose self-satisfaction leads them to look down on others.
• Contempt: Scorn that treats another person as beneath regard.

Translation and Source Notes

Embedded Scripture is Brenton’s English Septuagint, Psalm 122. The Agpeya’s dual numbering identifies this Psalm as 122 (123); its English wording and verse grouping differ from the Brenton text used here. Athanasius and Gregory offer reflections on the Psalter as a whole rather than direct commentaries on this Psalm.

Sources

Primary sources: Brenton Septuagint, Psalm 122; Luke 4:38–41; Luke 7:36–50; Luke 18:9–14; John 19; 2 Timothy 3:12; Hebrews 12:1–3.

Patristic sources: St Augustine, Exposition on Psalm CXXIII, §§1–2, 4–5, in NPNF1, volume 8; Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on the Psalms, Psalm 123; St Athanasius, Letter to Marcellinus, §§11–12; St Gregory of Nyssa, On the Inscriptions of the Psalms, book I, preface and chapters 1–2.

Coptic Orthodox / liturgical sources: Fr. Jacob Nadian, Rites: Agpeya Book, Eleventh Hour and Midnight Prayer, Second Watch.

Footnotes

1. St Augustine, Exposition on Psalm CXXIII, §§1–2, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series, vol. 8. The quotation is an excerpt from §2; §1 reads the individual voice as the voice of those united in Christ. Full text. ↩

2. St Augustine, Exposition on Psalm CXXIII, §4, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series, vol. 8. The quotation is an excerpt from his interpretation of the servant and handmaid as the Church awaiting Christ. Full text. ↩

3. Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on the Psalms, Psalm 123, §1, p. 286. ↩

4. Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on the Psalms, Psalm 123, §2, pp. 286–287. ↩

5. St Augustine, Exposition on Psalm CXXIII, §5, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series, vol. 8. The excerpt recalls 2 Timothy 3:12; Augustine goes on to describe mockery of unseen hope. Full text. ↩