“Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue.”
My Notes
What Does Psalms 120:2 Mean?
"Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue." The first psalm of the Songs of Ascents (Psalms 120-134, sung by pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem) opens with a cry for deliverance from deception. The psalmist's primary enemy isn't a military force — it's verbal: lying lips and a deceitful tongue. They live among people whose speech is weaponized, whose words are crafted to harm, whose tongues are instruments of destruction.
The prayer for deliverance of the "soul" (nephesh — the whole self, life force) indicates that the deception threatens more than reputation. It threatens the psalmist's very being. Living surrounded by lies doesn't just damage your reputation. It damages you — eroding trust, distorting reality, and corroding your capacity to distinguish truth from fabrication.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What lying environment is damaging your soul — not just your reputation?
- 2.How do you recognize when deception has moved from external attack to internal erosion?
- 3.When is the right response to lies 'deliverance' (leaving) rather than 'endurance' (staying)?
- 4.What does it mean that the pilgrim journey to God starts with being delivered from lying lips?
Devotional
Deliver my soul. Not my reputation. My soul. The lies aren't just damaging what people think about me. They're damaging who I am.
The psalmist is surrounded by deception. Not occasional dishonesty — systematic lying. Lips that produce falsehood as their primary product. A tongue trained in deceit the way a musician is trained in scales. The deception is professional-grade, constant, and aimed at the psalmist's core.
Living in a lying environment damages your soul in ways you don't immediately notice. You start questioning your own perception. You wonder if you're the crazy one. You second-guess memories because the liars tell them differently. You lose confidence in your ability to identify truth because you've been gaslit so thoroughly that reality itself feels uncertain. The lying lips don't just attack your character. They attack your sanity.
The psalmist's prayer is for deliverance — extraction from the lying environment. Not for thicker skin. Not for the ability to endure it better. For removal. Because some environments are so thoroughly saturated with deception that the only healthy response is to leave.
This is the first Song of Ascents. The first step on the pilgrimage to Jerusalem — the city of truth, the dwelling place of the God who cannot lie. The journey to God starts with leaving the lies behind. You can't ascend while remaining in the lying environment. The pilgrim path begins with deliverance from the deceitful tongue.
What lying environment do you need deliverance from before you can begin your ascent?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue. Not from such lips, and such a tongue of his own,…
Deliver my soul, O Lord - My soul is harassed and distressed. Perhaps the meaning also may be, My life is in danger. Or,…
Here is, I. Deliverance from a false tongue obtained by prayer. David records his own experience of this.
1. He was…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture