A manual of the book of Psalms · Martin Luther
PSALM CXXIII.
_The godly profess their confidence in God, and pray to be delivered from contempt._ A Song of degrees. Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants _look_ unto the hand of their masters, _and_ as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes _wait_ upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us. Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us: for we are exceedingly filled with contempt. Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, _and_ with the contempt of the proud. This Psalm is a fervent prayer against all those secure and proud despisers of the word of God and its true ministers. And the Gentile nations were not the only despisers who contemned the whole religion of the Israelites and the true worship of God, and condemned it as sedition altogether: but the idolaters and false teachers which were in the midst of that very people themselves proudly despised and derided the godly, that little flock of God, and the true prophets; as Psalms xii. and xiv. complain. And in the same way also our papists and fanatics now, who seem in their own eyes to be more holy than the gospel itself, more proudly and contemptuously than any others despise, trample underfoot, and spit upon all true and good ministers of the word of God. Not to say anything now about that security and pride wherein, at this day, even our bishops and priests themselves, who are more profane than all heathen nations put together, despise the true word of God. So that we, as the Psalmist saith in its conclusion, are indeed filled with the derision of the rich and the contempt of the proud. But may God, (and he will!) regard us, and glorify his word. Amen.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.