Psalms 120 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
Composed sometime between roughly 1000 and 400 BC, and gathered into its present collection after the return from exile in Babylon, around 500 to 400 BC
Location
The singer describes living among Meshech and Kedar, that is, far from Jerusalem among foreign peoples. Meshech lay in the mountains of what is now Turkey, and Kedar was a nomadic Arab tribe of the Syrian desert
Audience
Israelites travelling to Jerusalem for the yearly festivals, and later the worshipping community of the Second Temple
Situation
This is the first of fifteen psalms headed Song of Ascents, sung by pilgrims making the uphill journey to Jerusalem. The singer cries out against liars and slanderers and complains of living too long among people who want war while he wants peace.
Key Background
Jewish law required adult men to travel to Jerusalem three times a year for Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, and the road to the city climbs steeply, which is why these songs are called ascents. Meshech and Kedar were not neighbours of each other, so naming them together is a figure of speech for being surrounded by hostile strangers rather than a literal address. Ancient Near Eastern law took slander seriously because a community without written records depended on a person's spoken reputation.