Psalm 121 explained
He who keeps you
Psalm 121:1-8 · World English Bible
“A Song of Ascents. I will lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.”
In short
In eight verses Psalm 121 has one Hebrew verb six times: shamar, keep. First it names the LORD by it three times, "he who keeps you", "he who keeps Israel", "your keeper" (121:3-5); then three times it says what he will do: keep you, keep your soul, keep your going out and your coming in (121:7-8).
What's really going on
One verb, six times
Psalm 121 has eight verses, and one Hebrew verb comes six times in them: shamar, which Brown-Driver-Briggs gives as "keep, watch, preserve" (tap keep). The first three times it names the LORD by what he does: "He who keeps you will not slumber" (121:3), "Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep" (121:4), and "The LORD is your keeper" (121:5). The last three times it says what he will do: "The LORD will keep you from all evil. He will keep your soul" (121:7), and "The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in" (121:8). In Hebrew the first three are one form of the verb, keeping, which the WEB gives as keeps and keeper; the last three are the form the WEB gives as will keep. Here is what almost everyone misses: from 121:3 to the end, the verb is in every verse but one (121:6).
Easily missed
A question, then its answer
"I will lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from?" (121:1). In the WEB 121:1 ends with a question, and the next verse answers it: "My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth" (121:2).
Psalm 121:1-2
The Hebrew word behind it
שָׁמַרshamarsay sha-MAR
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "keep, watch, preserve". Strong's: "properly, to hedge about (as with thorns), i.e. guard". Psalm 121 has it six times in eight verses. Three times it is the form that names the one keeping: "He who keeps you" (121:3), "he who keeps Israel" (121:4), "your keeper" (121:5). Three times it is the form the WEB gives as will keep: "The LORD will keep you from all evil. He will keep your soul" (121:7), and "The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in" (121:8). It is the verb of the priests' blessing, "The LORD bless you, and keep you" (Numbers 6:24), and of God's promise to Jacob, "I am with you, and will keep you, wherever you go" (Genesis 28:15).
Talk about it
"I will lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from?" (121:1). When you need help, where do your eyes go first?
Read all of Psalm 121 with Favor
This is a taste. In Favor, the whole chapter explains itself as you read: 6 questions along the way, 11 more Hebrew words, 7 more sections on what's really going on and the honest questions, and a short check at the end. Alone, or with your people.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe