Psalm 121
8 verses · KJVPsalms book hub →
Psalms 121:1-2
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills: The second Song of Ascents opens on the hills the pilgrim's eyes could actually see rising toward Jerusalem, and the readings on what the hills mean are named rather than settled: some of the bench read the hills as the source of help itself, Zion's heights where the Lord is enthroned, others read the opening as a searching question, since the same hills also carried the high places of idol worship the traveler had to pass. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth answers either reading the same way, naming the maker of the hills as the true help rather than the height itself. Spurgeon calls the verse a traveler's psalm, sung by a heart already moving before the feet have gone far.
Psalms 121:1, 3 voicesWhat preachers and commentators have said about these verses, in their own words.
Psalms 121:1
“If you take a straight look at the leaders of the city, the foremost chief is Christ. In terms of the fight, although the angels and the saints help—"I lift up my eyes toward the mountains; whence shall help come to me"—yet the principal contender …”
Bonaventure· written before 1257· Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 18patristic
Psalms 121:1
“I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,.... Not to the hills and mountains in Judea, looking about to see if the inhabitants of them, or any bodies of men, appeared upon them to his help in distress; rather to the hills of Moriah and Zion, where the ark of God, the symbol of his presence, was, and to whom he looked for assistance and deliverance: or to heaven, the holy hill of the Lord, and to him that dwelleth there; see Psa 3:”
Psalms 121:1
“We must fetch in help from God, by faith in his promises, and a due regard to all his institutions: " I will lift up my eyes to the hills " (probably he meant the hills on which the temple was built, Mount Moriah, and the holy hill of Zion, where the ark of the covenant, the oracle, and the altars were);”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Psalms 121:2, 1 voice
Psalms 121:2
"This (says Dr. Hammond) may refer to Christ incarnate, with whose humanity the Deity being inseparably united, God is always present with him, and, through him, with us, for whom, sitting at God's right hand, he constantly maketh intercession." Christ is called the angel of his presence, that saved his people, Isa. lxiii.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Psalms 121:3-6
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: The keeper vocabulary begins here and runs through the psalm's second half, one Hebrew root translated keepeth at verses 3 and 4, keeper at verse 5, and preserve at verses 7 and 8, six occurrences of the same word holding the psalm together, as the older commentators note. He that keepeth thee will not slumber, and behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep moves from a promise to an individual to the same promise proven true of the whole nation, personal trust anchored in the people's own history. The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand, and the sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night names two dangers of a pilgrim's daytime and nighttime travel, heat and whatever harm the older writers associated with the night air, both covered by the same watching presence.
Psalms 121:3, 1 voice
Psalms 121:3
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. Though the paths of life are dangerous and difficult, yet we shall stand fast, for Jehovah will not permit our feet to slide; and if he will not suffer it we shall not suffer it. If our foot will be thus kept we may be sure that our head and heart will be preserved also. In the original the words express a wish or prayer, —"May he not suffer thy foot to be moved."
Charles Spurgeon· The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular (Reformed) Baptist / Five-point Calvinist / 1689 LBCF / 19th-c. evangelical
Psalms 121:4, 1 voice
Psalms 121:4
“Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The consoling truth must be repeated: it is too rich to be dismissed in a single line. It were well if we always imitated the sweet singer, and would dwell a little upon a choice doctrine, sucking the honey from it. What a glorious title is in the Hebrew—"The keeper of Israel, "and how delightful to think that no form of unconsciousness ever steals over him, neither the deep slumber nor the lighter sleep.”
Charles Spurgeon· The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular (Reformed) Baptist / Five-point Calvinist / 1689 LBCF / 19th-c. evangelical
Psalms 121:5, 2 voices
Psalms 121:5
“Those must needs be well kept that have the Lord for their keeper. If, by affliction, they be made his prisoners, yet still he is their keeper. The same that is the protector of the church in general is engaged for the preservation of every particular believer, the same wisdom, the same power, the same promises.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Psalms 121:5
“God will provide that his people shall not be tempted above what they are able, shall not fall into sin, though they may be very near it ( Ps. lxxiii. 2, 23 ), shall not fall into trouble, though there be many endeavouring to undermine them by fraud or over throw them by force. He will keep them from being frightened, as we are when we slip or stumble and are ready to fall.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Psalms 121:6, 1 voice
Psalms 121:6
“Smite - With excessive heat. Moon - With that cold and moisture which come into the air by it. Intemperate heats and colds are the springs of many diseases.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Psalms 121:7-8
The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: The chain of keeping closes with its final two occurrences, preserve named twice more, thy soul as well as thy body, and the psalm's scope widens from the pilgrim's road to the whole of his life, thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore. The psalm that opened scanning the hills for danger closes certain rather than searching, the same watchfulness that never slumbers now extended past the return from this one ascent into every future one. Spurgeon reads the closing formula, going out and coming in, as covering the whole compass of daily life, not travel only but every ordinary departure and return a life contains.
Psalms 121:7, 2 voices
Psalms 121:7
“Thee Lord shall preserve them from all evil,.... The Word of the Lord, as the Targum.”
Psalms 121:7
“The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil, or keep thee from all evil. It is a great pity that our admirable translation did not keep to the word keep all through the psalm, for all along it is one. God not only keeps his own in all evil times but from all evil influences and operations, yea, from evils themselves. This is a far reaching word of covering: it includes everything and excludes nothing: the wings of Jehovah amply guard Iris own from evils great and small, temporary and eternal.”
Charles Spurgeon· The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular (Reformed) Baptist / Five-point Calvinist / 1689 LBCF / 19th-c. evangelical
Psalms 121:8, 2 voices
Psalms 121:8
“The Lord shall preserve thy going out, and thy coming in,.... In transacting all the business of life, in going in and out about it; in all ways, works, and conversation; in journeying and travelling; in all affairs, civil and religious; and not only preserve, but prosper in all, Psa 1:3; the Lord blessing him, coming in and going out, Deu 28:6; and such, with the poet (x), are said to go with a good or prosperous foot.”
Psalms 121:8
“The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore. When we go out in the morning to labour, and come home at eventide to rest, Jehovah shall keep us. When we go out in youth to begin life, and come in at the end to die, we shall experience the same keeping. Our exits and our entrances are under one protection.”
Charles Spurgeon· The Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)Particular (Reformed) Baptist / Five-point Calvinist / 1689 LBCF / 19th-c. evangelical
Where the chapter sits
Psalms 121 falls in Book V: Hallel and Hallelujah (chapters 107–150). Songs of Ascents (120–134); Hallel (113–118); Great Hallel (136); Torah-praise acrostic Ps 119; fivefold Hallelujah doxology (146–150) as the Psalter's close.
Before it: Book IV: YHWH reigns, chapters 90–106.
The whole shape of Psalms→Key words
The Hebrew words this chapter turns on, by how often it uses them. Each one opens its word study.
| Word | What it means | Verses |
|---|---|---|
| שָׁמַרshâmar6 times, as שֹֽׁמְרֶֽךָ׃, שׁ֝וֹמֵ֗ר, שֹׁמְרֶ֑ךָ | protector your | 3, 4, 5, 7 and 1 more |
| יְהֹוָהYᵉhôvâh5 times, as יְהוָ֑ה, יְהוָ֥ה, יְֽהוָ֗ה | yahweh | 2, 5, 7, 8 |
| בּוֹאbôwʼ2 times, as יָבֹ֥א, וּבוֹאֶ֑ךָ | to come | 1, 8 |
| עֵזֶרʻêzer2 times, as עֶזְרִֽי׃, עֶ֭זְרִי | help my | 1, 2 |
| נוּםnûwm2 times, as יָ֝נ֗וּם, יָ֭נוּם | to slumber | 3, 4 |
Cross references
The 8 chapters this one speaks with, most first. Open a row for the verses it shares.
Proverbs 33 verses
Psalms 121:8
Proverbs 3:6In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.Psalms 121:3
Proverbs 3:23Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble.Psalms 121:3
Proverbs 3:26For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.- Read Proverbs 3 →
Psalms 913 verses
Psalms 121:5
Psalms 91:1He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.Psalms 121:6
Psalms 91:5Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;Psalms 121:7
Psalms 91:9Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;- Read Psalms 91 →
Psalms 1201 verse
Psalms 121:1
Psalms 120:1In my distress I cried unto the Lord, and he heard me.- Read Psalms 120 →
Psalms 1231 verse
Psalms 121:1
Psalms 123:1Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.- Read Psalms 123 →
The rest of the chapters this one speaks with, 4 of them, for a reader following a thread past the four above
- Jeremiah 31 verse
- Isaiah 411 verse
- Psalms 1241 verse
- Hebrews 131 verse
Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.
The world behind itThe place, the time and the people around this chapter, for a reader who wants the setting.
The world behind this chapter
Psalms 121The history
Pilgrims walked. Three times a year Israelite men were to appear at the sanctuary, and families travelled in groups along ridge roads through broken country. The hills the singer lifts his eyes to were not scenery; they were the problem. Ravines and caves along those routes sheltered bandits, and a traveler carrying an offering was worth robbing.
The hills held something else too. High points across the region were dotted with local shrines, and a traveler in trouble was surrounded by invitations to ask a local god for protection. The psalm answers its own question sharply: help comes from the maker of heaven and earth, not from the hilltops.
The dangers named are the ones a walker actually faced. A slipping foot on a stony descent could end a journey. Heat stroke killed; the sun in that country is a weapon by midday. The moon was widely believed to bring on sickness and madness at night, which is why English still calls a person moonstruck.
The keeper who never sleeps is set against the human alternative. A caravan posted watchmen, and watchmen doze. The word for keep or guard runs through the psalm six times, which is the whole argument in one repeated verb.
What it meant to them
A family setting out on a week's walk sang this as a departure blessing, and it promised protection for the going out and the coming in, the whole round trip, door to door.
In the pilgrim collection it comes right after the psalm of the man stranded far away. He has started moving, and the first thing he needs is to survive the road.
Sources cited
- Walton, Matthews and Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
Featured studies
Pages of this site that take up something in this chapter. Each one opens on its own.
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Psalms 121. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 18; Charles Spurgeon; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765) and Matthew Henry.