Unto the Hills (Psalm 121)

DESCRIPTION: "I to the hills will lift mine eyes, From whence doth come mine aid? My safety cometh from the Lord, Who heav'n and earth hath made." "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills." "Behold, he that keepeth Israel, He slumbers not nor sleeps"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1899 (Presbyterian Hymnal)
KEYWORDS: religious | sleep hills
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Kane-SongsAndSayingsOfAnUlsterChildhood, p. 108, "Behold he that keeps Israel" (1 fragment)
Roud #25515
NOTES [209 words]: The text quoted here is from a Presbyterian hymn book of 1899, but I am far from sure this is the exact text Alice Kane would have heard. It is for this reason, too, that I do not list an author. I have seen several paraphrases of Psalm 121, all similar enough that they might have been Kane's source, given how short her fragment is and the imperfection of human memory.
Psalm 121 is a "Song of Ascents" or a "Song of Steps"; the first four of its eight verses as given by the King James Bible are:
[1] I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
[2] My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
[3] He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
[4] Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
This seems to be a pretty good translation of the Hebrew; the New Revised Standard Version is almost identical except for modernizing the English. The commentaries don't have much to say about it; there are no major textual or interpretive issues. The Jewish Study Bible does note the curious fact that, of the fifteen or so Ascents psalms, it is the only one headlined "A Song for Ascents" rather "A Song of Ascents" and notes the repeated use of the root "to guard."
Last updated in version 6.5
File: KSUC108B

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