Psalm 122 Bible study: Let's go to the LORD's house

The psalm's title is "A Song of Ascents. By David." (122:1) (tap Ascents). Its first words after the title tell what others said: "I was glad when they said to me, “Let’s go to the LORD’s house!”" (122:1) (tap glad, house). Its last line comes back to the same house: "For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your good" (122:9) (tap seek). In Hebrew both are beit, house of, followed by the divine name. Between them the word comes once more, for David: "the thrones of David’s house" (122:5). Here is what almost everyone misses: in Hebrew the psalm's last two verses each begin with the same word, lema'an, which Brown-Driver-Briggs gives as "for the sake of". The first gives people as the reason for its word of peace: "For my brothers’ and companions’ sakes, I will now say, “Peace be within you.”" (122:8). The second gives the house as the reason for seeking the city's good: "For the sake of the house of the LORD our God" (122:9). The psalm that began with a call to go to the LORD's house ends by seeking the city's good for that house's sake.

שָׁלוֹםshalomsay sha-LOHM

Brown-Driver-Briggs: "completeness, soundness, welfare, peace". Strong's: "safe, i.e. (figuratively) well, happy, friendly; also (abstractly) welfare, i.e. health, prosperity, peace". The psalm has it in three verses in a row: "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem" (122:6), "Peace be within your walls" (122:7), and "Peace be within you" (122:8). With the verb sha'al, ask, it is how the Hebrew Bible tells of asking after someone's welfare, as in "He asked them of their welfare" (Genesis 43:27), where welfare is shalom (tap Pray). Near it in 122:6-7 are yishlayu, will prosper, and shalvah, prosperity (tap prosperity). Strong's gives shalom as "from 7999" and shalvah as "from 7951", the verb of will prosper: the lexicons don't derive them from one root, and these notes don't either.