Where We Begin

“Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem… ” as I read these words penned thousands of years ago, I cannot help but reflect on how far we in twenty-first century America are from ancient Jerusalem and, increasingly, from peace.  Ours is a world of technological marvels, instantaneous communication, and high-speed travel.  A pilgrimage to Jerusalem now takes only hours and can be made from thousands of miles away. Ours is not the world of the author of the 122nd Psalm.  Sadly, it is not even the world envisioned by the psalmist for a hopeful future.

Since the writing of the words of this Psalm, two great world religions have arisen from lands familiar to the author.  Those religions, along with the author’s own, would value and revere Jerusalem as a holy city and in the many years in between would vie—often violently—for control of that same city.  They vie for it even now and the consequences of that struggle have had repercussions around the globe.

Come, the New Jerusalem

In the 1988 movie Working Girl, starring Harrison Ford and Melanie Griffith, the title song was a song written by Carly Simon called Let the River Run. Some of the lyrics read:

Silver cities rise/the morning lights/the streets that meet them/and sirens call them on/with a song.
 It's asking for the taking/Trembling, shaking/Oh, my heart is aching.
 We're coming to the edge/running on the water/coming through the fog/your sons and daughters.
 Let the river run/let all the dreamers/wake the nation/Come, the New Jerusalem.

As the opening credits and the location of the film make clear, the “New Jerusalem” being referred to in the song is New York City.  It is not the only time such imagery has been used to describe that metropolis. E.L. Doctorow has recently written a new and critically acclaimed novel, a tour de force philosophical work about faith and religious experience in the modern world. It is called City of God; it takes place in New York. 

As one who grew up in New York State, I have long viewed “the City” as something of a new Jerusalem, and in its more inspiring moments, a city of God. Indeed, I have reflected much about both the Carly Simon song and the Doctorow novel in the weeks since September 11, 2001.  For, just as they found New York to elicit Biblical imagery in their creative work, I found that I could not read the words of Psalm 122 and not think about wounded and bleeding Manhattan.  Reading the words of that Psalm were a sad reminder that neither the Psalmist’s Jerusalem, nor Simon’s New Jerusalem and Doctorow’s City of God is at peace today.

I. Encountering the Biblical Text: Psalm 122

The first thing that makes an impression as one reads the 122nd Psalm is the familiar phrase, “Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem.”¹The translations of the text of the 122nd Psalm in this paper are my own unless otherwise indicated.  A complete translation of the Psalm is appended. One encounters not just this familiar phrase but also other references to peace, quiet, and quietness. Those words sit alongside words like ramparts and citadels—words of military significance.

There are a no major “speed bumps” to be encountered in the reading, though there are a couple of difficulties in translation, which will be discussed below.

As mentioned above, the text is familiar.  The phrase “Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem” is often encountered, particularly in relation to world peace issues.  Groups that work toward peace in the Middle East often quote the verse.  I, myself, have used this verse in the preparation of a catalog of missions groups at Foundry United Methodist Church.  On the page dedicated to the Human Rights Mission, active in Israeli-Palestinian peace issues, I placed the words at the bottom of the page in English, Hebrew, and Arabic.²The similarity of the Hebrew and Arabic is clear and striking: שאלו שלום ירושלים and اسالوا سلامة اورشليم asaalu salaame Urushalim.

II. Close Reading

Translating Psalm 122

A number of issues present themselves in the translation.

I Rejoiced

In the very first verse there is an ambiguity in the phrase שָׂמַחְתִּי בְּאֹמְרִים לִי samaḥti b’omrim li, which can be seen in the variant translations of the New International Version (NIV) and the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).  The phrase is literally “I rejoiced in-the-saying (pl.) to me….”  Here אֹמְרִים omrim, a masculine plural active participle can be translated as “the ones saying” or “(they) are saying.” When preceded by the preposition בּ b’ (“in,” “with”), it can yield a number of meanings, including: “with those who said to me” (NIV) and “when they said to me” (NRSV).  I struggled to come up with a translation that allowed both the senses of with and in.  The result is “I rejoiced at their saying to me…” It is not the most elegant English, but attempts to follow after Everett Fox’s practice of being transparent to the Hebrew.

Let Us Go

In that same verse, in the next clause, is another ambiguity.  The verb נֵלֵךְ nelech, a first person plural Qal imperfect verb can mean “Let us go” (as the NIV and NRSV do) or “We go/will go” (as the Jewish Publication Society (JPS) translation).  One is an invitation, the other a statement of fact.  Given the context of the author’s rejoicing, I have interpreted this verb to be one of invitation.

Past or Present

Another translation issue is raised in the very next verse.  The verb הָיוּ hayu is the third person Qal perfect of the verb היה hayah (“to be”).  As such, it would normally be translated using the past tense.  Of the major contemporary translations, only the JPS translates this verb in the past tense: “stood.”  The NIV and the NRSV render the verb “are standing.”³The King James “shall stand” (perhaps inferring a vav reversive construction, lacking the vav). The Revised Standard Version and Young’s Literal Translation have “have been standing.” The difference is not insignificant.  The verb tense changes the Psalm from a present tense account to a past tense recollection and after the fact remembrance.  A good argument can be made for translating הָיוּ hayu in the present tense, as stative verbs like those of being and knowing can be translated in the present tense, even with the perfect. In this instance, I have used the past tense to allow for the interpretation of the Psalm as a reflection on a completed pilgrimage.

Joined Together to Itself

In the third verse, Jerusalem is described as a city שֶׁחֻבְּרָה לָּהּ יַחְדָּו she-ḥub’rah lah yaḥdav, literally “joined to her together.”  This is translated variously as “closely compacted together” (NIV), “bound firmly together” (NRSV), “knit together” (JPS), and “where people come together in unity” (NEB).⁴This last translation, found in the New English Bible, is interesting. The text has no mention of people in it and has only the three words mentioned above.  However, the root of the word חברה ḥaverah is חבר ḥ-b-r which is also the root of the word חַבֵר ḥaver, “friend.” Perhaps the NEB is trying to capture some element of “friendship” in its understanding of Jerusalem’s togetherness rather than its architectural closeness. I have chosen to leave this phrase deliberately vague and ambiguous: “joined together to itself.”

Community or Witness

One final translation issue has to do with a phrase in verse 4: עֵדוּת לְיִשְׁרָאֵל ‘edut l’yisrael, which is variously translated as “according to the statute given to Israel” (NIV), “as was decreed to Israel” (NRSV), “the bounden duty of Israel” (NEB), and “as was enjoined upon Israel” (JPS).  The phrase is literally “a testimony to Israel.”  עֵדוּת ‘edut is the same word translated “covenant” in the Scriptural mentions of the “Ark of the Covenant.”⁵See, e.g., Ex. 25:22 (NRSV) The problem is not so much the translation of this word, however, as it is the question of this phrase’s placement in the text.  It seems an awkward parenthetical insertion, disruptive of the flow of the text.  Witnesses from Qumran and the Symmachus Greek translation offer another possibility.  Qumran texts read not עֵדוּת לְיִשְׁרָאֵל ‘edut l’yisrael but עדת ישראל ‘adat yisrael “community of Israel.”⁶עדת ישראל (Adas Israel) also happens to be the name of a conservative synagogue in Cleveland Park, where I once had the happy privilege of giving the D’var Torah. If this reading is given to the text, there is a building that takes place in the verse: “the tribes, the tribes of Yah, the community of Israel.”⁷Young’s Literal Translation renders this phrase “companies of Israel” reading the text as עַדוֹת יִשְׁרָאֵל. I find this interpretation more satisfying and have included it in my reader’s translation, though the literal rendering “a testimony to Israel” remains in my literal translation.

Praying for the Peace of Jerusalem

Perhaps the most famous part of this Psalm is the phrase that lends the title to this reflection: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” Although the bulk of the reflection in this paper is on the concepts of peace, it is important to stop here and explore what the meaning of pray is. The Hebrew verb שַׁ֭אֲלוּ sha’alu is better translated as “ask.” To be fair, the English verb pray means “to ask for” or “to beg for” seen in archaic phrases like “Give this to me, I pray” and the Shakespearean prithee (meaning, “I pray thee”). However, the verb pray in contemporary English has primarily come to mean to be in an attitude of divine communication, which is represented by a different verb in Hebrew (פלל palal). This verb is rendered differently in the literal and reader’s translations below.

The Translation

Literal Translation	Hebrew Text	Readers’s Translation
1 A song of Goings-Up; of David.	שִׁ֥יר הַֽמַּעֲל֗וֹת לְדָ֫וִ֥ד שָׂ֭מַחְתִּי בְּאֹמְרִ֣ים לִ֑י בֵּ֖ית יְהוָ֣ה נֵלֵֽךְ׃	A Song of Ascents. Of David.
I rejoiced in-the-saying to me, “The House of Yhwh we go.” 2 Our feet were standing in your gates, Yerushalayim. 3 Yerushalayim built as a city which is joined to her together 4 To where tribes go up, tribes of Yah, a testimony to Yisrael to praise the name of Yhwh. 5 For there sit thrones of justice, thrones of the house of David. 6 Ask for the peace of Yerushalayim may those who love you be at ease. 7 Peace be in your ramparts, quietness in your citadels 8 For the sake of my brothers and neighbors let me say, “Peace be in you.” 9 For the sake of the House of Yhwh our God, let me seek good for you.	עֹ֭מְדוֹת הָי֣וּ רַגְלֵ֑ינוּ בִּ֝שְׁעָרַ֗יִךְ יְרוּשָׁלִָֽם׃ יְרוּשָׁלִַ֥ם הַבְּנוּיָ֑ה כְּ֝עִ֗יר שֶׁחֻבְּרָה־לָּ֥הּ יַחְדָּֽו׃ שֶׁשָּׁ֨ם עָל֪וּ שְׁבָטִ֡ים שִׁבְטֵי־יָ֭הּ עֵד֣וּת לְיִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל לְ֝הֹד֗וֹת לְשֵׁ֣ם יְהוָֽה׃ כִּ֤י שָׁ֨מָּה ׀ יָשְׁב֣וּ כִסְא֣וֹת לְמִשְׁפָּ֑ט כִּ֝סְא֗וֹת לְבֵ֣ית דָּוִֽיד׃ שַׁ֭אֲלוּ שְׁל֣וֹם יְרוּשָׁלִָ֑ם יִ֝שְׁלָ֗יוּ אֹהֲבָֽיִךְ׃ יְהִֽי־שָׁל֥וֹם בְּחֵילֵ֑ךְ שַׁ֝לְוָ֗ה בְּאַרְמְנוֹתָֽיִךְ׃ לְ֭מַעַן אַחַ֣י וְרֵעָ֑י אֲדַבְּרָה־נָּ֖א שָׁל֣וֹם בָּֽךְ׃ לְ֭מַעַן בֵּית־יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֵ֑ינוּ אֲבַקְשָׁ֖ה ט֣וֹב לָֽךְ׃	I rejoiced at their saying to me, “Let’s go to the House of Yhwh.” 2 Our feet were standing in your gates, O Jerusalem. 3 Jerusalem is built as a city joined together to itself, 4 to which ascend the tribes, the tribes of Yah, the Congregation of Israel, to praise the name of Yhwh; 5 For there sit thrones of justice— thrones of the House of David. 6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May those who love you have quiet; 7 peace be in your ramparts, quietness in your citadels.” 8 For the sake of my kindred and neighbors let me say, “Peace be in you.” 9 For the sake of the House of Yhwh our God, let me seek your good.

The Structure of Psalm 122

There is a division among scholars as to the structure of the Psalm.  The majority favor a three-part structure: the first describing the setting (vv. 1-2), the second describing Jerusalem (vv.3-5) and third presenting a vision of and for Jerusalem (vv. 6-9), each beginning with a reference to Jerusalem and containing four poetic lines.⁸McCann, Jr., J. Clinton, “The Book of Psalms,” in The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. IV (1996), p.1183. There is certainly an argument to be made for the three part structure, however, others have seen a chiasm in the Psalm, described as follows:⁹Ibid.

• A (vv. 1-2) the psalmist, their companions (“I”/ “us”), and “the house of Yhwh”
  • B (vv. 3-4) Jerusalem
    • C (v. 5) “house of David”
  • B’ (vv. 6-7) Jerusalem
• A’ (vv. 8-9) the psalmist, companions, and “the house of Yhwh.”

One argument in favor of the chiastic structure is that it places the king at the center of the peace of Jerusalem, consistent with Davidic Royal Theology that sees the monarch as a mediator of blessing. This interpretation would also be consistent with the identification of this Psalm as “of David,” a rare feature in psalms of ascent.¹⁰Denise Dombkowski Hopkins, personal communication.

This Psalm is the third in a series of fifteen שִׁירֵי הַמַּעֲלוֹת Shirei ha-Ma‘alot, Songs of Ascents, or pilgrim songs.  They are so named because going to Jerusalem always involves “going up” (עלה ‘aliyah) no matter from which direction one is traveling.¹¹Modern day Jews who emigrate to Israel “make Aliyah” (עליה).  In addition, an aliyah is also the name of the synagogue practice of ‘coming up’ to the podium to recite the prayers before reading a portion of scripture. The frequent references to Jerusalem and Zion in Psalms 120-134 suggest their usage in pilgrimages to Jerusalem.¹²McCann, supra

Though a three-part structure is defensible, the chiastic structure also has the benefit of suggesting a journey ‘there and back’: starting and ending the journey with a focus on the ‘house of Yhwh.’  The key to this understanding is in verse 5, which begins with the pointer כּי ki “for”—setting up the verse as a central verse to the Psalm.

Wordplay

As noted at the outset, there is a lot of language relating to peace, quiet, and stillness.  These motifs are repeated throughout verses 6 through 9, often in subtle ways.  There is artful wordplay and euphony in these verses, driving home the theme of peace.  Verse 6 begins ‘Pray for the peace of Jerusalem’ שַׁאֲלוּ שָׁלוֹם יְרוּשָׁלָיִם sha’alu shalom Yerushalam.¹³The MT points the text יְרוּשָׁלָםִ Yerushalayim, but there is no yod in the consonantal text between the the lamed and mem.  It is therefore likely that the original pronunciation was something like Yerushalam. The consonants שׁ shin [sh] and ל lamed [l] are present in each word. Further, in verses 6 through 9, there are seven words that make use of this euphony: שַׁאֲלוּ שָׁלוֹם יְרוּשָׁלָיִם sha’alu shalom Yerushalam (v. 6), יִשְׁלָיוּ yishlayu (v. 6); שָׁלוֹם shalom (v. 7); שַׁלְוָה, shalwah (v. 7); שָׁלוֹם shalom (v. 8).

There is also evidence of intensification in the text.  As argued above, there is intensification in the description of those making the pilgrimage to Jerusalem:  the tribes, the tribes of Yah, the community of Israel.  Some have also pointed to an intensification in verse 5: “For there sit thrones of justice—thrones of the House of David.”

Dating of Composition

There is no direct evidence in the text of the date of the Psalm’s authorship.  This is not some small matter.  Dating of the Psalm would give us a clue as to the meaning behind the extolling of the Davidic kingdom.  The mention of the House of God could indicate either Solomon’s Temple or the Second Temple.

Thematic Connections

Scholar Robert Davidson points out that the words of verse 6 echo the traditional greeting which is translated in Jeremiah 15:5 as “to ask about your welfare.”¹⁴Davidson, Robert. The Vitality of Worship: A Commentary on the Book of Psalms. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, (1998), p. 411.  It bears noting that in Modern Hebrew a similar question is asked: מַה שְׁלוֹמְךָ / מַה שְׁלוֹמֵךְ mah sh’lomcha/mah sh’lomeich ‘What is your peace/welfare?’ Thus, the Psalmist has linked Jerusalem with peace and with the welfare of the pilgrims traveling to it.  Prosperity, security, well-being, and peace are thematically and linguistically linked by the author.

There are subtle echoes in this text of other Biblical texts.  Curiously the words “peace” and “Jerusalem” rarely occur together.  In one such instance, the occurrence is not hopeful:

Thus I will spend my wrath upon the wall, and upon those who have smeared it with whitewash; and I will say to you, The wall is no more, nor those who smeared it— the prophets of Israel who prophesied concerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for it, when there was no peace, says the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 13:15-16 (NRSV)

Here God exercises judgment on those prophets who said peace, peace, when there was no peace.  Another is more hopeful:

He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.

Zechariah 9:10

Here is a messianic vision of peace in Jerusalem and throughout the world.  In a way, both passages share thematic links with the Psalm.  Ezekiel reminds us in stark fashion of the absence of peace in Jerusalem and judgment upon those who falsely say there is.  But Zechariah reminds us that there will be peace, not only in Jerusalem, but throughout the nations.  These texts, like the Psalm, remind us of the contrast between present reality and future hope, critiquing the present.

III. Engaging the Text

This Psalm is a pilgrimage Psalm.  As such, it would have been used in making pilgrimage up to Jerusalem for the festivals—Passover, Sukkot, and Shavuot.  But the Psalm is more than just a way to pass the time on the journey.  There is a distinct message that is made here: the Davidic reign is to manifest God’s reign.¹⁵McCann, at 1183. This idea is borne out by the centrality of verse 5: “For there sit thrones of justice—thrones of the house of David.”  Justice is an attribute of God’s reign, here declared to be manifest in the Davidic kingdom.

There is an interesting juxtaposition between the elements of justice and peace with the more traditional understandings of the power of earthly kingdoms: ramparts and citadels.  As Pleins notes, though military language makes its way into this Hymn of Zion, “the topic is not war, but peace.”¹⁶J. David Pleins, The Psalms: Songs of Tragedy, Hope, and Justice. The Bible & Liberation. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, (1993), p. 125 Pleins continues: “the reality of war cannot lie far away from this prayer” and Jerusalem’s ramparts, citadels, and gates “inspire reflection on Zion’s peace.”¹⁷Pleins, 125-6.

As noted above, there is no direct, conclusive evidence as to the dating of the Psalm.  If the Psalm is pre-exilic, then the Psalm is celebrating the Davidic dynasty as a manifestation of God’s reign on earth.  It is noting the juxtaposition between the Temple and the Palace, the House of Yhwh and the House of David.

The Prayer for Peace

However, if the Psalm is post-exilic then a very different message is being communicated.  For, there are no longer thrones of justice on Zion, or thrones of any kind.  The Davidic dynasty has been destroyed.  The Temple may have been rebuilt, but Judah’s political independence and military power would be gone altogether.  The “house of David,” then, becomes not a present reality, but a future reality, a messianic hope.  Jerusalem itself then becomes a present symbol of a future hope.  Perhaps clues to this are found in the imperfect subjunctive verbs found throughout: “May those who love you have quiet (יִשְׁלָיוּ)…Peace be in your ramparts (יִהִי שָׁלוֹם)…Peace be in you….”  Perhaps the subjunctive nature of these verbs suggests that peace and quiet are now absent but devoutly wished.

It is this latter understanding that has more relevance for us today, not simply because the Temple no longer exists, but because the Messianic kingdom clearly does not.

It becomes clear that the author is trying to make the connection between peace and security, between quiet repose and wholeness.  It should be noted that שָׁלוֹם shalôm means more than simply “peace” but comes from the root שׁלם sh-l-m, which means “wholeness.”  Peace is therefore not simply the absence of war, but a complete sense of well-being, including justice.  Jerusalem is a city of peace not on account of its ability to defend itself against war—its ramparts and citadels—but on account of the presence of the House of Yhwh and “thrones of justice.”

Psalm 122 for Us Today

Today, neither the Old Jerusalem nor the ‘New Jerusalem’ is a city at peace.  What do the words of this Psalm mean to us in light of the continuing conflict in Israel and Palestine, and the devastation in New York and Washington?

In answering this question, there is something else worth noting.  The Psalmist instructs us to “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.”  We usually interpret this as praying for peace for Jerusalem.  This is likely borne out of the pragmatic observation that Jerusalem does not have peace, and so therefore we pray for it to have peace.  But the text simply says שָׁלוֹם יְרוּשָׁלָיִם shalôm Yerushalayim the shalom of Yerushalayim.  Perhaps we are not simply instructed to pray for peace to come upon Jerusalem (though that is certainly a part of it).  Perhaps we are instructed to ask for the wholeness of Jerusalem.  Not the Jerusalem of our present reality, but the Jerusalem that is meant to be: the City of God, from which comes forth Torah, and to which the nations stream.  We pray for the peace of that City where justice reigns and God is sovereign over the nations.  We pray for the wholeness of that city, to which not only the “community of Israel,” but all the nations, go up to praise the name of Yhwh.  In short, this prayer is not a prayer for the redistribution of a present reality to a city that lacks it.  Rather, it is the prayer for an eschatological reality, which will be located in the very city now beset by strife and war.

This then brings us full circle. When we pray for the peace of Jerusalem, we do not ask for its military security or for the strength of its ramparts and citadels.  We ask instead that it become the city that it was meant to be: a city under God’s reign.  A city wherein justice and righteousness reign, where God is present in our lives and in our world.  Seen in this way, praying for the peace of Jerusalem is neither nostalgia nor wishful thinking.  It is a recognition of the Jerusalem that is meant to be, the Jerusalem that is promised to be.

And so, we pray for the peace of Jerusalem.  We pray for the peace of New York.

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