I lift my eyes unto the hills verse

Question

Table of Contents Show

Question of the Week
What is Psalm 121 used for?
What does it mean to lift my eyes to the hills?
Where in the Bible is I will lift my eyes to the hills?
What is the message of Psalm 121 1 2?

Answer

The city of Jerusalem—the center of ancient Jewish worship—is perched high upon a hill. As worshipers traveled there for one of the three main yearly Jewish festivals, they traditionally sang “Songs of Ascent” while climbing the road into the city. The Jewish priests may have sung these Songs of Ascent (also called Pilgrim Songs) as they ascended the temple steps in Jerusalem. One such psalm states, “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:1–2, ESV).

On his approach to Jerusalem, the pilgrim declared, “I lift my eyes to the hills,” the place where God dwells. Just as Isaiah saw the Lord “sitting on a throne, high and lifted up” (Isaiah 6:1, NKJV), the psalmist looked up to the mountains of Jerusalem and saw God the Creator of heaven and earth, seated on His heavenly throne in Mount Zion.

Scripture frequently refers to the heights of Jerusalem as the holy “Mountain of the Lord” where God dwells (Zechariah 8:3; Isaiah 27:13). One psalmist describes Jerusalem as “the city of our God, which sits on his holy mountain! It is high and magnificent; the whole earth rejoices to see it! Mount Zion, the holy mountain, is the city of the great King!” (Psalm 48:1–2, NLT). In Psalm 87:2, the same writer reports that God “loves the city of Jerusalem more than any other city in Israel.”

“I lift my eyes to the hills” was the worshiper’s declaration of trust and dependence upon God for help. He was going to meet with the Lord and offer sacrifices of praise because the Lord his God, Creator of the universe, was his singular source of help. From the elevated place of His holy presence, God would grant assistance and deliverance: “I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain” (Psalm 3:4; see also Psalm 20:2; 134:3). From His sacred dwelling place, the Lord would offer everlasting security: “As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forevermore” (Psalm 125:2).

In another song of ascent, the psalmist makes a similar pronouncement of trust and reliance on God for help: “To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens! Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he has mercy upon us” (Psalm 123:1–2, ESV). This time God is not perceived as dwelling in the hills of Jerusalem but enthroned in the heavens, and it is His mercy the psalmist seeks.

Directing our eyes toward God symbolizes our complete trust and reliance on Him for help: “But my eyes are toward you, O God, my Lord; in you I seek refuge; leave me not defenseless!” (Psalm 141:8, ESV). “My eyes are always on the Lord, for he rescues me from the traps of my enemies,” acknowledged King David (Psalm 25:15, NLT). The writer of Hebrews taught us to stay the course and finish the race of the Christian life by “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12:2).

Lifting our eyes toward God is a biblical image of prayer. As a great multitude of enemies came against Jehoshaphat, he prayed to the Lord, “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you” (2 Chronicles 20:12). At his stoning, Stephen prayed and “looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:55). Even Jesus Himself “lifted up his eyes to heaven” when He prayed to His Father (John 17:1).

When we say, “I lift my eyes to the hills,” we communicate a trust in God that can sustain us through every danger, hardship, and challenge along life’s journey until we are safely home in God’s eternal kingdom.

Return to:
Questions about Psalms
What does the psalmist mean when he says, “I lift my eyes to the hills” (Psalm 121:1)?

Subscribe to the

Question of the Week

Get our Question of the Week delivered right to your inbox!

Psalm 1211 Psalm 121 A song of ascents.1 I lift up my eyes to the hills-- where does my help come from?2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot slip-- he who watches over you will not slumber;4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The LORD watches over you-- the LORD is your shade at 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 harm-- he will watch over your life;8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

Psalm 121:1 says in the King James, I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. But David’s help didn’t really come from the hills, of course. Verse 2 says: My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.

Because of that confusion, later versions changed the punctuation. The ESV says, I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

That makes it a little clearer, but it doesn’t answer the question. Why did David lift his eyes to the hills?

I remember growing up hearing the answer that the hills represented strength, and God was strong. And I accepted that answer, and maybe it’s right.

But one time when I was reading Psalm 121, I began to think about David’s life.

It appears that David wrote this psalm after he was king, which means it was after he had spent a lot of time in those hills, the ones to which he was lifting his eyes.

What had happened in those hills?

For years, maybe as many as ten or fifteen years, he had hidden in those very hills, from a maniacal king who was dead-set on killing him.

When David lifted his eyes up to the hills, he didn’t just see a beautiful view. He saw his life flash before his eyes. He remembered moving from one hill to another, from one cave to another, hiding in the back of a cave while the king slept in the front, working his way around one side of the mountain while the king and his army marched inexorably around the other side.

When David looked at those hills, he saw despair and grief and darkness and hopelessness.

But when he looked at those hills, he saw something more. He saw protection. He saw deliverance. He saw safety in the cleft of the Rock. In those hills, David knew the presence of God.

When David became king, he wanted to remember that even in the darkest places, God was still there, leading him, protecting him, fulfilling the promise He had given him when he was a youth, even when it seemed impossible.

He wanted to remember, even as he sat on a throne, that the same Lord who had helped him when he was hiding in the hills—even in the times when he couldn’t perceive God’s help—would be helping him still.

Lift up your eyes to your own “hills.” What are your own hills? They are your time of greatest darkness and despair, when it seemed that God had forgotten you, but when afterwards you could look back to see that He was really holding you. He was there.

For Joseph of the book of Genesis (chapters 39-41), the “hills” he looked to might have been a memory of his years in the dungeon, waiting for the purposes of God to be fulfilled. And they were, far beyond his imagination.

For the apostle Peter, the “hills” he looked to might have been a memory of his faltering and failing when he followed Jesus as a disciple, knowing that Jesus loved him and protected him and eventually filled him with His Holy Spirit to do miracles and preach with power.

For Jesus, the “hills” He looked to were the cross of Calvary that He had to endure for the joy that He knew was set before Him on the other side.

For a friend of mine, the “hills” she may look to might be the days when she despaired that she would ever recover from the effects of horrific sexual abuse, only to see later that the Lord Jesus was walking with her through her healing journey to the other side.

For me, one set of “hills” I would look to would be a time of darkness when, spiritually speaking, I couldn’t see my hand before my face. But then seeing the Lord bring me out to the other side and show Himself strong and manifest Himself to me.

What are your hills? Are you in them now, crying out for God to be there with you in the darkness and hiding and fear? Are you feeling like He has abandoned you?

Don’t lose heart. Hold on to hope. Trust Him to finish what He has started.

There will come a day when you’ll lift your eyes to those hills and say, “See those hills right there? Those, right there. They are the place of my greatest despair and grief and darkness and hopelessness.”

And then you’ll say, “But they are also the place of my greatest protection and deliverance. They are the place I was kept safe in the cleft of the Rock. They are the place I began to know the presence of God.”

Psalm 121

A Song of Ascents.

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?

My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade on your right hand.

The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.

The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

What is Psalm 121 used for?

Use Psalm 121 to pray for your family as a prayer of protection. The Lord will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. We can also pray this powerful psalm as a prayer of protection.

What does it mean to lift my eyes to the hills?

It means lifting our eyes toward the hills and the God who dwells in them. It means becoming an enemy to those who hate God and His Word.

Where in the Bible is I will lift my eyes to the hills?

Psalm 121 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills-- where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.

What is the message of Psalm 121 1 2?

Psalm 121 is one of these songs. It begins by acknowledging that our help comes from God and God alone. It identifies God as the Maker of heaven and earth. This means that there is no other god and no other helper but the One who has made us.