经文研读
Psalms 123:4 — The Soul Overflowing with Contempt
Psalm 123:4 laments that the psalmist's soul is saturated with the mockery of the complacent and the contempt of the proud.
经文
- 4.我 們 被 那 些 安 逸 人 的 譏 誚 和 驕 傲 人 的 藐 視 ， 已 到 極 處 。Our soul is exceedingly filled With the scoffing of those that are at ease, And with the contempt of the proud.
这段经文的意思
Psalm 123:4 voices the deepest ache of the sufferer: the soul is not merely touched but 'exceedingly filled' with contempt. The verb overflows into grief — what others pour out as casual disdain settles inside the petitioner as an almost unbearable weight. The psalmist is not asking why evil exists in general; he is naming the specific source: scoffers at ease and the proud.
The verse sharpens the distinction between two kinds of contempt. The 'scoffing of those that are at ease' comes from people whose prosperity lets them mock from a position of comfort. The 'contempt of the proud' comes from those whose self-exaltation lets them look down on others. Together, these two lines paint contempt as both a privilege of the secure and a weapon of the arrogant — and the psalmist feels pressed on every side.
By placing this complaint at the close of the song, the psalm turns the reader's eyes back to the mercy asked for in verse 3. The overflowing contempt is precisely why 'Have mercy upon us' must be repeated. The verse does not resolve the conflict — it sets up a hunger that only God's mercy, as asked earlier, can answer.
背景
Psalm 123 is one of the Songs of Ascents (verses 1–4), sung by pilgrims likely approaching Jerusalem for worship. The opening lifts the eyes to 'him that sitteth in the heavens' (verse 1), then compares the worshipper's gaze to a servant watching the master's hand or a maid watching her mistress's hand (verse 2). The whole song is built on dependence: eyes lifted, eyes waiting, until mercy comes.
Verse 3 is the pivot. The mercy plea is doubled, and the reason is given: 'we are exceedingly filled with contempt.' Verse 4 then unpacks exactly who pours that contempt out — those at ease and the proud — so the full chapter builds a movement from lifted eyes (vv. 1–2) to urgent plea (vv. 3–4).
常见问题
Why does verse 4 say the soul is 'exceedingly filled'?
The wording echoes verse 3 ('exceedingly filled with contempt'), where the plea for mercy is doubled. The repetition shows that the contempt is not a single offense but a sustained pressure that has saturated the psalmist's inner life, which is precisely why mercy must be asked for again.
Who are 'those that are at ease' and 'the proud'?
The song names two sources of contempt from within the chapter itself. 'Those that are at ease' mock from prosperity, while 'the proud' despise from self-exaltation. The psalm groups them together as the comfortable and the arrogant who look down on the waiting worshipper.
Does Psalm 123:4 give an answer to the contempt it describes?
The verse itself does not resolve the contempt. Within the chapter, the answer has already been set up in verses 1–3: the eyes lifted to the One in the heavens, and the doubled plea 'Have mercy upon us.' Verse 4 deepens the need so that the mercy asked earlier is shown to be the only sufficient refuge.