Among Those Who Hate Peace
A Song of Ascents.
A traveler is sick of living among people who answer his talk of peace with war. He complains to our Father about lying tongues, is answered with a picture of a warrior's arrows and burning coals, and names his exile: Meshech, the tents of Kedar.
120 1In my distress I called to our Father, and he answered me.
2Deliver me, my Father, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue. 3What will our Father give to you, and what more will he add to you, you deceitful tongue? 4A warrior's sharpened arrows, with burning coals of the broom tree. a a v4 The broom tree is a desert shrub whose charcoal burns intensely hot and for a very long time.
5What misery for me, that I live in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar! b b v5 Meshech lay far to the north and Kedar far to the southeast in the Arabian desert — places at opposite ends of the known world, named together to picture life surrounded by hostile strangers. 6Too long have I lived among those who hate peace. 7I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war.
