Bible Strands
Psalms 120:6
Too long have I dwelt among those who hate peace.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The speaker is the psalmist, with no addressee named in the line, saying “Too long have I dwelt among those who hate peace” between his “Woe to me” in Psalms 120:5 and his “I am in favor of peace” in Psalms 120:7.
The words — רַבָּת (rabbat, “much”) and שָׁכְנָה (shakhnah, “it has dwelt”) carry the verse, with the literal sense that the soul has dwelt “much” with one who hates peace.
The thread — The thread runs through the psalm’s own contrast in Psalms 120:5 and Psalms 120:7, and through other images of being among hostile surroundings or beings in Psalms 57:4, Ezekiel 2:6, and Matthew 10:16.
Why it lands — It asks the reader to measure how long they have remained among those who treat peace-seeking as provocation. It asks whether that dwelling has become a habit rather than a temporary burden.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace.
Cross-references
- Matthew 10:16 Behold, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
- Psalms 57:4 My soul is among the lions; I lie down with ravenous beasts—with men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.
- Ezekiel 2:6 But you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns surround you, and you dwell among scorpions. Do not be afraid of their words or dismayed by their presence, though they are a rebellious house.
- Matthew 10:36 A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’
- 1 Samuel 20:30 Then Saul’s anger burned against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you?
- Titus 3:3 For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.