Psalm 121
The full text of Psalm 121 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew. Free to read.
A Song of Ascents.
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot 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 shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
8 The LORD will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.
Translation notes (2)
- Psalm 121:6a In the ancient Near East the moon, like the sun, was thought capable of inflicting harm; night exposure was associated with fever, blindness, and mental affliction. The same belief underlies the Greek verb seleniazomai, 'to be moonstruck', used of the epileptic in Matthew 4:24 and 17:15. The verse thus promises protection around the clock, not merely from heat.
- Psalm 121:8a The Hebrew phrase tsetkha uvoekha, 'your going out and your coming in', is a merism in which two opposite actions stand for the whole of life's activity (compare Deuteronomy 28:6). The idiom also carries the root shamar, 'to keep' or 'to guard', which occurs six times in this short psalm and binds its promise of protection together.
About this translation
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