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Advent · First Sunday in Advent · Year A

Psalm 122

Peace Be Within Your Walls

November 30, 2025

Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, Charles-Théodore Frère
Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, Charles-Théodore Frère, by 1880The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Travellers have pitched their tents and couched their camels on the slope of the Mount of Olives, and across the valley the walled city of Jerusalem lies white in the sun.I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!” Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem … Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.Charles-Théodore FrèreA Parisian painter who travelled through Egypt and the Holy Land and spent his career painting its caravans and cities.The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New YorkThe Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, which makes its public-domain pictures free for anyone to use.The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
LSB Three-Year Lectionary
GospelMatt. 21:1-11Mt 21:1-11Alt. GospelMatt. 24:36-44Mt 24:36-44
EpistleRom. 13:(8-10) 11-14Rom 13:(8-10) 11-14
Old TestamentIsa. 2:1-5Is 2:1-5
PsalterPs. 122Ps 122

Overview & Insights

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!” (Psalm 122:6)

Psalm 122 is one of the fifteen Songs of Ascents (120-134), the collection associated with pilgrimage up to Jerusalem, and it is the one that describes the arrival. It is spoken in the completed tense of a journey finished, with feet standing within the gates, and then turns to look at the city itself, its close-built construction, its tribal gatherings and the thrones of judgment belonging to the house of David (v. 5), which sets the psalm in the period of the monarchy or in memory of it. Verses 6-8 are built on a sound, since shalom chimes with Jerusalem and with shalvah, security, so that praying for the city’s peace is also a play on its name. The psalm’s concern is not the pilgrim’s experience but the city’s welfare, asked for the sake of brothers and companions and finally for the sake of the house of the Lord.

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Commentary

Commentary on Psalm 122Commentary on Ps 122 Working Preacher

Reads this Song of Ascents as fitting for the start of a new church year, with the pilgrim's 'let us go to the house of the Lord' echoing Isaiah 2's invitation.

Psalm 122 CommentaryPs 122 Commentary Center for Excellence in Preaching

Reformed preaching commentary on the psalm's pilgrimage joy and prayer for Jerusalem's peace as the Advent 1 psalm response.

Psalm 122 CommentaryPs 122 Commentary Enduring Word (David Guzik)

Verse-by-verse commentary on this Song of Ascents, covering the pilgrim's gladness at going to the house of the Lord and the prayer for Jerusalem's peace.

Background & Word Study

Psalms 122:1-9Ps 122:1-9 Sefaria

Hebrew/English text of the Song of Ascents with linked rabbinic and Talmudic commentary on the pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

The Church Fathers

Psalm 122 - CatenaPs 122 - Catena Catena Bible

Patristic comments on the Song of Ascents' joy at going up to the house of the Lord and its prayer for Jerusalem's peace.

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