Psalm 121:1
A Song of Ascents. I will lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from?
World English Bible, updated 66-book edition (engwebp). Text provenance and public-domain notice.
Read the full chapter: Psalms 121
1 A Song of Ascents. I will lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not allow your foot to be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD is your keeper. The LORD is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will keep you from all evil. He will keep your soul.
8 The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in, from this time forward, and forever more.
Context for study
In this translation, looking toward the hills is followed by a question about the source of help. Verse 2 supplies the answer by naming the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth. Reading the two lines together distinguishes the direction of the speaker’s gaze from the source of the help being confessed. The next lines develop the answer through the image of a keeper who does not sleep.
A question to explore
How does the answer in verse 2 clarify the question in verse 1, and why should the hills and the helper not simply be treated as the same thing?