Psalms 123:4

The scorning. — The Hebrew offers a rare use of the article — probably it should be reproduced by our demonstrative, this scorning. The LXX., however, have, “The scorn for those at ease, and the contempt for the proud,” which requires only the substitution of a letter, removes an anomaly in construction, and gives a better sense: “Let our desire be satisfied to the full with the scorn for those at ease, and the same contempt for the proud.” Notice how the figure is retained. The oppressors are the masters and mistresses, living in luxury, while the slaves wait. Gesenius quotes Sallust (secundis rebus ferox) in illustration of the wantonness of secure and luxurious power. As we read the verse, we seem to feel

“The whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely.”