(א) שיר המעלות לדוד שמחתי באמרים לי בית ה' נלך (ב) עמדות היו רגלינו בשעריך ירושלם (ג) ירושלם הבנויה כעיר שחברהלה יחדו (ד) ששם עלו שבטים שבטייה עדות לישראל להדות לשם יהוה (ה) כי שמה ישבו כסאות למשפט כסאות לבית דויד (ו) שאלו שלום ירושלם ישליו אהביך (ז) יהישלום בחילך שלוה בארמנותיך (ח) למען אחי ורעי אדברהנא שלום בך (ט) למען ביתה' אלקינו אבקשה טוב לך
(1) A song of ascents. Of David. I rejoiced when they said to me, “We are going to the House of Adonai.” (2) Our feet stood inside your gates, O Jerusalem, (3) Jerusalem built up, a city knit together, (4) to which tribes would make pilgrimage, the tribes of Adonai, —as was enjoined upon Israel— to praise the name of Adonai. (5) There the thrones of judgment stood, thrones of the house of David. (6) Pray for the well-being of Jerusalem; “May those who love you be at peace. (7) May there be well-being within your ramparts, peace in your citadels.” (8) For the sake of my kin and friends, I pray for your well-being; (9) for the sake of the house of Adonai our God, I seek your good.
(א) שיר המעלות לדוד שמחתי באמרים לי בית ה' נלך
A song of ascents. Of David.
I rejoiced when they said to me, “We are going to the House of Adonai.”
שיר המעלות, שמחתי באומרים - אמר רבי משה: כי זה השיר אמרו דוד שיאמר עם הזמירות בבית השם בעת שיבנה הבית. ורבי ישועה אמר: כי זה בעבור הבית שהקים לו דוד בציון. ויש אומרים: על הבית השלישי כל אחד מישראל אומרים: שמחתי באומרים - הם עולי רגלים.
"I rejoiced when they said to me" – R’ Moshe said: for David said this song that it be said with the joyful-songs in the House of God when the House will be built. R’ Yeshua said: for this song was for the House which David rose up in Zion. There are those that say it refers to the Third House when every member of Israel will say ‘I rejoiced when they said to me’ as they go up for the pilgrimage festivals:
(ב) עמדות היו רגלינו בשעריך ירושלם
Our feet stood inside your gates, O Jerusalem,
Cambridge Study Bible
The verb cannot be rendered thus. It may mean ‘have been and still are standing,’ hence R.V. are standing; or were standing, which is the most natural rendering. The somewhat unusual combination of the participle with the substantive verb may be an indication of the lateness of the Psalm (the idiom is common in Nehemiah), but it gives prominence to the idea of duration (Driver, Tenses, § 135. 5). It suggests that when the pilgrims reached the city gates, they halted for a while, spell-bound by the sight of its magnificence, and by the memories of its ancient glories.
R’ Yehoshua ben Levi said: what does the verse “Our feet were standing within your gates, O Jerusalem,” (Psalms 122:2) mean? Who helped our feet to stand in battle? There gates of Jerusalem which were occupied with Torah.
Jerusalem built up, a city knit together,
Jerusalem – On the three festivals the city was like a country into which all her children gathered from the surrounding area in a time of fear:
A song of ascents of David – This psalm is speaking the praise of Jerusalem. It describes the nation in its totality as one body made up of different individual limbs and Jerusalem as “a city that was joined together within itself…” (Psalms 122:3) The individual limbs join together to become a whole body which can contain the spirit of life, an intellect, and a Godly soul. The House of God is located within her, and it is the vessel which prepares the whole body to receive the Divine Presence and the Godly soul. The city itself is like the heart and brain within the body, which prepare it to receive the vital force and the intellect. In light of this it says “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord,’” because there God dwells and there God makes the Divine Presence and Godliness to come to rest in holiness.
Talmud Yerushalmi, Chagigah 3:6
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: “Jerusalem built up, a city knit together” (Psalms 122:3) — A city that makes all Israel friends.
Benson Bible Commentary
The phrase שׁחברה לה signifies “the connection or joining of things aptly and closely to each other. Thus it is used of the coupling of the curtains of the tabernacle together, Exodus 36:18. Hence it is used to denote the connection and society of friendship, affection, and purpose, Genesis 14:3; Hosea 4:17.
BT Ta'anit 5a
There is a Jerusalem in heaven, and the Jerusalem on earth is destined to be like it.
(ו) שאלו שלום ירושלם ישליו אהביך
Pray for the well-being of Jerusalem; “May those who love you be at peace.
It has been explained that Jerusalem is that which upholds the connectivity of the wholeness of the body and its unity. Now goes on to say that just as if asked about the welfare of the personal body, one would reply that its peace depends on whether its limbs and powers are connected to and in peace with each other, because at the moment one divides between them, then death comes. So too if one asks after the peace of Jerusalem the answer is that her peace depends on the tranquility of those who love her. The peace of Jerusalem depends on whether there is inner tranquility between those who love her. This is because the primary essence of Jerusalem is the unity of the nation, and if this is so then if strife and struggle arises between her people and an estrangement of hearts there will be no peace found for the city. Her primary peace is herself with herself “…like a city that was joined together within itself,” (Psalms 122:3) and not if they are divided. There is a difference between peace and tranquility, because peace is and external peace and tranquility is an inner tranquility. Thus the psalm says that through Israel having inner tranquility, which is why is calls them her lovers because there is love between them even if they have no peace from their external enemies, this will bring about the external peace of Jerusalem.
Beloved is peace because the Holy One gave it to Zion, as it says “Request the peace of Jerusalem…” (Psalms 122:6)