Psalms 122:6-9

122:6 Pray ¹  for the peace of Jerusalem!

May those who love her prosper! ² 

122:7 May there be peace inside your defenses,

and prosperity ³  inside your fortresses! ⁴ 

122:8 For the sake of my brothers and my neighbors

I will say, “May there be peace in you!”

122:9 For the sake of the temple of the Lord our God

I will pray for you to prosper. ⁵ 

Psalms 137:5-6

137:5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,

may my right hand be crippled! ⁶ 

137:6 May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,

if I do not remember you,

and do not give Jerusalem priority

over whatever gives me the most joy. ⁷ 

[122:6]  ¹ tn Heb “ask [for].”

[122:6]  ² tn Or “be secure.”

[122:7]  ³ tn or “security.”

[122:7]  ⁴ tn The psalmist uses second feminine singular pronominal forms to address personified Jerusalem.

[122:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “I will seek good for you.” The psalmist will seek Jerusalem’s “good” through prayer.

[137:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “may my right hand forget.” In this case one must supply an object, such as “how to move.” The elliptical nature of the text has prompted emendations (see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 236). The translation assumes an emendation to תִּכְשַׁח (tikhshakh), from an otherwise unattested root כשׁח, meaning “to be crippled; to be lame.” See HALOT 502 s.v. כשׁח, which cites Arabic cognate evidence in support of the proposal. The corruption of the MT can be explained as an error of transposition facilitated by the use of שָׁכַח (shakhakh, “forget”) just before this.

[137:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “if I do not lift up Jerusalem over the top of my joy.”