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Psalm 123 · a question people ask

The psalm begins with I and then says we. Who is speaking?

In the text

The psalm doesn't name the speaker. It begins with one voice: "I lift up my eyes to you" (123:1). From the next verse it is many: "so our eyes look to the LORD, our God, until he has mercy on us" (123:2), "Have mercy on us, LORD, have mercy on us, for we have endured much contempt" (123:3), and "Our soul is exceedingly filled" (123:4). Its title, "A Song of Ascents" (123:1), names no one. The psalm doesn't say who the we are or why the voice changes, and these notes don't name them.

The verses

“A Song of Ascents. I lift up my eyes to you, you who sit in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD, our God, until he has mercy on us. Have mercy on us, LORD, have mercy on us, for we have endured much contempt. Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scoffing of those who are at ease, with the contempt of the proud.”
Psalm 123:1-4 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 123

Psalm 123: Our eyes look to the LORD

Psalm 123 lifts its eyes "to you, you who sit in the heavens" (123:1) and pictures servants and a maid with their eyes on a master's and a mistress's hand (123:2). In Hebrew that verse has no verb for look: only eyes, turned toward a hand. One verb for mercy comes three times, and the verb behind "endured" (123:3) is the verb of "filled" (123:4).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions