The fifteen Psalms of Ascent (120-134) were sung by pilgrims walking up to Jerusalem for Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. The journey itself, ascending the roads from the coastal plain or the Jordan valley up to the hill country of Judah where Jerusalem sits, is the physical expression of the spiritual movement the whole covenant has been about.
Psalm 121 is the watchman psalm: I will lift my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come? My help comes from YHWH, who made heaven and earth. The hills are not the source; they are the direction of the gaze. The source is the one who made the hills. He who keeps you will not slumber. The keeper of Israel, shomer Yisrael. Neither slumbers nor sleeps. The pilgrim walking through uncertain terrain toward Jerusalem is kept by the one who does not sleep.
Psalm 127: unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain; unless the LORD keeps the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. The whole collection brings together the corporate journey (the covenant people going up together) with the sovereign care (the one who keeps them on the way) and the genuine human effort (the walking, the keeping watch, the building) that is genuine but not ultimately self-sufficient.
Thread 2 is the corporate pilgrimage: the covenant people going up together, making the journey as one body, the songs they sing on the road defining their shared identity. Thread 1 is the shomer Yisrael who keeps them on every step of the road.
I will lift up mine eyes to the hills from whence comes my help, the Psalms of Ascent, sung by pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem for the three great feasts, are the corporate voice of the covenant people making the journey that the whole covenant has always been moving toward.
הִנֵּה לֹא יָנוּם וְלֹא יִישָׁן שׁוֹמֵר יִשְׂרָאֵל (hinneh lo yanum ve-lo yishan shomer Yisrael): behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep: shomer Yisrael (the keeper of Israel, shomer from shamar, to keep, guard, protect; the Aaronic blessing's keep-word: the LORD keep you; the same sovereign care that the priestly blessing invoked is here extended to the whole covenant people; lo yanum ve-lo yishan, neither dozes nor sleeps, the emphatic double negation of any inattention)
threads t1 · t2 · see Deuteronomy 16:16 · Isaiah 35:8-10 · Hebrews 12:22
The fifteen Psalms of Ascent (120-134) were sung by pilgrims walking up to Jerusalem for Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. The journey itself, ascending the roads from the coastal plain or the Jordan valley up to the hill country of Judah where Jerusalem sits, is the physical expression of the spiritual movement the whole covenant has been about.
Psalm 121 is the watchman psalm: I will lift my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come? My help comes from YHWH, who made heaven and earth. The hills are not the source; they are the direction of the gaze. The source is the one who made the hills. He who keeps you will not slumber. The keeper of Israel, shomer Yisrael. Neither slumbers nor sleeps. The pilgrim walking through uncertain terrain toward Jerusalem is kept by the one who does not sleep.
Psalm 127: unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain; unless the LORD keeps the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. The whole collection brings together the corporate journey (the covenant people going up together) with the sovereign care (the one who keeps them on the way) and the genuine human effort (the walking, the keeping watch, the building) that is genuine but not ultimately self-sufficient.
Thread 2 is the corporate pilgrimage: the covenant people going up together, making the journey as one body, the songs they sing on the road defining their shared identity. Thread 1 is the shomer Yisrael who keeps them on every step of the road.
I will lift up mine eyes to the hills from whence comes my help, the Psalms of Ascent, sung by pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem for the three great feasts, are the corporate voice of the covenant people making the journey that the whole covenant has always been moving toward.
הִנֵּה לֹא יָנוּם וְלֹא יִישָׁן שׁוֹמֵר יִשְׂרָאֵל (hinneh lo yanum ve-lo yishan shomer Yisrael): behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep: shomer Yisrael (the keeper of Israel, shomer from shamar, to keep, guard, protect; the Aaronic blessing's keep-word: the LORD keep you; the same sovereign care that the priestly blessing invoked is here extended to the whole covenant people; lo yanum ve-lo yishan, neither dozes nor sleeps, the emphatic double negation of any inattention)
threads t1 · t2 · see Deuteronomy 16:16 · Isaiah 35:8-10 · Hebrews 12:22
The fifteen Psalms of Ascent (120-134) were sung by pilgrims walking up to Jerusalem for Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. The journey itself, ascending the roads from the coastal plain or the Jordan valley up to the hill country of Judah where Jerusalem sits, is the physical expression of the spiritual movement the whole covenant has been about.
Psalm 121 is the watchman psalm: I will lift my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come? My help comes from YHWH, who made heaven and earth. The hills are not the source; they are the direction of the gaze. The source is the one who made the hills. He who keeps you will not slumber. The keeper of Israel, shomer Yisrael. Neither slumbers nor sleeps. The pilgrim walking through uncertain terrain toward Jerusalem is kept by the one who does not sleep.
Psalm 127: unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain; unless the LORD keeps the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. The whole collection brings together the corporate journey (the covenant people going up together) with the sovereign care (the one who keeps them on the way) and the genuine human effort (the walking, the keeping watch, the building) that is genuine but not ultimately self-sufficient.
Thread 2 is the corporate pilgrimage: the covenant people going up together, making the journey as one body, the songs they sing on the road defining their shared identity. Thread 1 is the shomer Yisrael who keeps them on every step of the road.
I will lift up mine eyes to the hills from whence comes my help, the Psalms of Ascent, sung by pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem for the three great feasts, are the corporate voice of the covenant people making the journey that the whole covenant has always been moving toward.
הִנֵּה לֹא יָנוּם וְלֹא יִישָׁן שׁוֹמֵר יִשְׂרָאֵל (hinneh lo yanum ve-lo yishan shomer Yisrael): behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep: shomer Yisrael (the keeper of Israel, shomer from shamar, to keep, guard, protect; the Aaronic blessing's keep-word: the LORD keep you; the same sovereign care that the priestly blessing invoked is here extended to the whole covenant people; lo yanum ve-lo yishan, neither dozes nor sleeps, the emphatic double negation of any inattention)
threads t1 · t2 · see Deuteronomy 16:16 · Isaiah 35:8-10 · Hebrews 12:22
The fifteen Psalms of Ascent (120-134) were sung by pilgrims walking up to Jerusalem for Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. The journey itself, ascending the roads from the coastal plain or the Jordan valley up to the hill country of Judah where Jerusalem sits, is the physical expression of the spiritual movement the whole covenant has been about.
Psalm 121 is the watchman psalm: I will lift my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come? My help comes from YHWH, who made heaven and earth. The hills are not the source; they are the direction of the gaze. The source is the one who made the hills. He who keeps you will not slumber. The keeper of Israel, shomer Yisrael. Neither slumbers nor sleeps. The pilgrim walking through uncertain terrain toward Jerusalem is kept by the one who does not sleep.
Psalm 127: unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain; unless the LORD keeps the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. The whole collection brings together the corporate journey (the covenant people going up together) with the sovereign care (the one who keeps them on the way) and the genuine human effort (the walking, the keeping watch, the building) that is genuine but not ultimately self-sufficient.
Thread 2 is the corporate pilgrimage: the covenant people going up together, making the journey as one body, the songs they sing on the road defining their shared identity. Thread 1 is the shomer Yisrael who keeps them on every step of the road.
I will lift up mine eyes to the hills from whence comes my help, the Psalms of Ascent, sung by pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem for the three great feasts, are the corporate voice of the covenant people making the journey that the whole covenant has always been moving toward.
הִנֵּה לֹא יָנוּם וְלֹא יִישָׁן שׁוֹמֵר יִשְׂרָאֵל (hinneh lo yanum ve-lo yishan shomer Yisrael): behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep: shomer Yisrael (the keeper of Israel, shomer from shamar, to keep, guard, protect; the Aaronic blessing's keep-word: the LORD keep you; the same sovereign care that the priestly blessing invoked is here extended to the whole covenant people; lo yanum ve-lo yishan, neither dozes nor sleeps, the emphatic double negation of any inattention)
threads t1 · t2 · see Deuteronomy 16:16 · Isaiah 35:8-10 · Hebrews 12:22
The fifteen Psalms of Ascent (120-134) were sung by pilgrims walking up to Jerusalem for Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. The journey itself, ascending the roads from the coastal plain or the Jordan valley up to the hill country of Judah where Jerusalem sits, is the physical expression of the spiritual movement the whole covenant has been about.
Psalm 121 is the watchman psalm: I will lift my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come? My help comes from YHWH, who made heaven and earth. The hills are not the source; they are the direction of the gaze. The source is the one who made the hills. He who keeps you will not slumber. The keeper of Israel, shomer Yisrael. Neither slumbers nor sleeps. The pilgrim walking through uncertain terrain toward Jerusalem is kept by the one who does not sleep.
Psalm 127: unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain; unless the LORD keeps the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. The whole collection brings together the corporate journey (the covenant people going up together) with the sovereign care (the one who keeps them on the way) and the genuine human effort (the walking, the keeping watch, the building) that is genuine but not ultimately self-sufficient.
Thread 2 is the corporate pilgrimage: the covenant people going up together, making the journey as one body, the songs they sing on the road defining their shared identity. Thread 1 is the shomer Yisrael who keeps them on every step of the road.
I will lift up mine eyes to the hills from whence comes my help, the Psalms of Ascent, sung by pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem for the three great feasts, are the corporate voice of the covenant people making the journey that the whole covenant has always been moving toward.
הִנֵּה לֹא יָנוּם וְלֹא יִישָׁן שׁוֹמֵר יִשְׂרָאֵל (hinneh lo yanum ve-lo yishan shomer Yisrael): behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep: shomer Yisrael (the keeper of Israel, shomer from shamar, to keep, guard, protect; the Aaronic blessing's keep-word: the LORD keep you; the same sovereign care that the priestly blessing invoked is here extended to the whole covenant people; lo yanum ve-lo yishan, neither dozes nor sleeps, the emphatic double negation of any inattention)
threads t1 · t2 · see Deuteronomy 16:16 · Isaiah 35:8-10 · Hebrews 12:22
The fifteen Psalms of Ascent (120-134) were sung by pilgrims walking up to Jerusalem for Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. The journey itself, ascending the roads from the coastal plain or the Jordan valley up to the hill country of Judah where Jerusalem sits, is the physical expression of the spiritual movement the whole covenant has been about.
Psalm 121 is the watchman psalm: I will lift my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come? My help comes from YHWH, who made heaven and earth. The hills are not the source; they are the direction of the gaze. The source is the one who made the hills. He who keeps you will not slumber. The keeper of Israel, shomer Yisrael. Neither slumbers nor sleeps. The pilgrim walking through uncertain terrain toward Jerusalem is kept by the one who does not sleep.
Psalm 127: unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain; unless the LORD keeps the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. The whole collection brings together the corporate journey (the covenant people going up together) with the sovereign care (the one who keeps them on the way) and the genuine human effort (the walking, the keeping watch, the building) that is genuine but not ultimately self-sufficient.
Thread 2 is the corporate pilgrimage: the covenant people going up together, making the journey as one body, the songs they sing on the road defining their shared identity. Thread 1 is the shomer Yisrael who keeps them on every step of the road.
I will lift up mine eyes to the hills from whence comes my help, the Psalms of Ascent, sung by pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem for the three great feasts, are the corporate voice of the covenant people making the journey that the whole covenant has always been moving toward.
הִנֵּה לֹא יָנוּם וְלֹא יִישָׁן שׁוֹמֵר יִשְׂרָאֵל (hinneh lo yanum ve-lo yishan shomer Yisrael): behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep: shomer Yisrael (the keeper of Israel, shomer from shamar, to keep, guard, protect; the Aaronic blessing's keep-word: the LORD keep you; the same sovereign care that the priestly blessing invoked is here extended to the whole covenant people; lo yanum ve-lo yishan, neither dozes nor sleeps, the emphatic double negation of any inattention)
threads t1 · t2 · see Deuteronomy 16:16 · Isaiah 35:8-10 · Hebrews 12:22
The fifteen Psalms of Ascent (120-134) were sung by pilgrims walking up to Jerusalem for Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. The journey itself, ascending the roads from the coastal plain or the Jordan valley up to the hill country of Judah where Jerusalem sits, is the physical expression of the spiritual movement the whole covenant has been about.
Psalm 121 is the watchman psalm: I will lift my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come? My help comes from YHWH, who made heaven and earth. The hills are not the source; they are the direction of the gaze. The source is the one who made the hills. He who keeps you will not slumber. The keeper of Israel, shomer Yisrael. Neither slumbers nor sleeps. The pilgrim walking through uncertain terrain toward Jerusalem is kept by the one who does not sleep.
Psalm 127: unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain; unless the LORD keeps the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. The whole collection brings together the corporate journey (the covenant people going up together) with the sovereign care (the one who keeps them on the way) and the genuine human effort (the walking, the keeping watch, the building) that is genuine but not ultimately self-sufficient.
Thread 2 is the corporate pilgrimage: the covenant people going up together, making the journey as one body, the songs they sing on the road defining their shared identity. Thread 1 is the shomer Yisrael who keeps them on every step of the road.
I will lift up mine eyes to the hills from whence comes my help, the Psalms of Ascent, sung by pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem for the three great feasts, are the corporate voice of the covenant people making the journey that the whole covenant has always been moving toward.
הִנֵּה לֹא יָנוּם וְלֹא יִישָׁן שׁוֹמֵר יִשְׂרָאֵל (hinneh lo yanum ve-lo yishan shomer Yisrael): behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep: shomer Yisrael (the keeper of Israel, shomer from shamar, to keep, guard, protect; the Aaronic blessing's keep-word: the LORD keep you; the same sovereign care that the priestly blessing invoked is here extended to the whole covenant people; lo yanum ve-lo yishan, neither dozes nor sleeps, the emphatic double negation of any inattention)
threads t1 · t2 · see Deuteronomy 16:16 · Isaiah 35:8-10 · Hebrews 12:22