From the Stepenni Hymns this morning, for such dangerous times as these

Last updated on: November 25, 2018 at 10:35 pm by Justin Tse

From the Stepenni Hymns this morning, for such dangerous times as these 2018-11-25T22:35:42-07:00 Justin Tse

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At Matins just this morning, parts of the first song of ascents were sung. In these dangerous times in both Ukraine and the United States, I consider this psalm in the Robert Alter translation and will say no more till I have soaked in prayerful discernment for more than a knee-jerk reaction can allow:

To the Lord when I was in straits
I called out and He answered me.

Lord, save my life from lying lips,
from a tongue of deceit.

What can it give you, what can it add,
a tongue of deceit?

A warrior’s honed arrows
with broom-wood coals.

Woe to me for I have sojourned in Meshech,
dwelt among the tents of Kedar.

Long has my whole being dwelt
among those who hate peace.

I am for peace, but when I speak,
they are for war.

-Psalm 120, in Robert Alter, The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary, p. 435-6

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