Remain dependent on him. Thee Lord shall preserve them from all evil. and goes, things prosper with him, and with those that are in Jehovah will keep thee from all evil; he will keep thy soul. Psalm 121:7 (MSG) God guards you from every evil, he guards your very life. Psalm 121:7 (RHE) What does Psalm chapter 121 mean? Psalms 76-150, Holman Old Testament Commentary by Steven Lawson. evermore--includes a future state. But the very force he puts into life may unduly magnify self; and it is much more to say that God will keep him from ensnaring self. "This God is our God forever and ever, he will be our guide even unto death" (Psalms 48:14). Their provision and protection came only from the Lord. Psalm 121 was sung by the ancient Israelites as they made the long journey to Jerusalem. preserve, but prosper in all, ( Psalms 1:3 ) ; the Lord Get our Question of the Week delivered right to your inbox! There are luxuries, listlessnesses, selfishnesses, of our very resting-times; rod we need God for our coming in lest the self or self-indulgence should gain undue power over us.R.T. IV. Psalm 121:7 (GNT) ", I. the *LORD. They knew their strength and their help. People that robbed you hid in the The Lord will protect you from all danger; he will keep you safe. He fled to the mountains; but God preserved him, not the mountain. v4 It is certain that Psalm 121 answers this question for us. "All evil." He must receive the Holy Ghost, have the heavens opened unto him, and know God, and then sin against him. God guards you from every evil, he guards your very life. Psalm 121:7 (CJB) Our Lord sought seclusion among the hills of Eastern Galilee, and entered into the Divine glory on a spur of Hermon. He had kept it; they might be sure that he would keep it. 6-8. And is not that just what we need? Hence blessed are they who are in God's holy keeping in all the goings out and comings in of daily life! (120-7) The Lord keepeth thee from all evil: may the Lord keep thy soul. God agreed to *protect his Hashem shall preserve thee from kol rah; He shall preserve thy nefesh. The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil; he shall preserve thy soul. Psalm 121:7 (NLT) Look up, and you shall prove how God "wipes away all tears from our eyes."R.T. All of our resources exist to guide you toward everlasting joy in Jesus Christ. Lament Psalms. Who do you turn to in times of crisis? Psalm 121 is categorized as one of the Songs of Ascent sung by pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem. Psalm 121 also pertains to the journey of faith that requires reliance on God. The setting of the psalm is travel to or from Jerusalem as part of a religious pilgrimage. The psalms title, A Song of Ascents perhaps indicates the psalm was intended for use during pilgrimage to Jerusalem for one of Israels festivals. Please enter your email address associated with your Salem All-Pass account, then click Continue. Three times a year, the men of Israel would set out for Jerusalem to celebrate the feasts of the Lord and to worship their God at the Holy Temple, which stood majestically at the top of Mount Zion. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. there. The story of Psalm 121 is in the note on Psalm 120. Psalms 121:7. The Lord will keep you safe from all evil; he will take care of your soul. you help. The term "soul" stands often in the Scriptures of both the Old and New Testaments for the animal life; but we use it for that spiritual being which man is, as distinguished from that bodily form which man has. How powerfully we are all drawn by world-interests! It is almighty wisdom that contrives, and almighty power that works the safety of those that put themselves under God's protection. 8 The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore (Psalm 121:7-8). What mercy! THE GREATNESS OF OUR NEED. The first verse is a call to God in deep sorrow, from out of the depths or out of the deep, as it is translated in the King James Version of the Bible and the Coverdale translation (used in the Book of Common Prayer) respectively. "Shall I lift up mine eyes unto the hills? protects you ~ stops people hurting or killing you . The psalm may be understood literally, as a prayer of the persecuted who has taken refuge in the temple, or figuratively, of one who has taken refuge in God. Copyright 2023, Bible Study Tools. Salem Media Group. "Certain" is another word for "sure". Or, we must lift up our eyes above the hills; we must look to God who makes all earthly things to us what they are. Psalm 121:7, NASB: The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. 1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills : from whence cometh my help. This publication is written in EasyEnglish Level A (1200 words). If we could just lift up our eyes to hills and to the heavens beyond, we would catch a glimpse of the powerful God who created all of this vast universe. He is always near his people for their protection and refreshment. The Lord is thy Keeper; the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. you" means "stop somebody hurting you". This page last updated: December 13, 2022. They cannot render us all the help we need. And this assurance carried with it the confidence that God's defense and blessing were still upon the restored nation. Tehillim 121:7 (OJB) It is a protection for life. Quarrelsomeness breaking friendship is evil. Look up!" The LORD will protect you from all harm; He will protect your life. John Calvin summarizes the message of Psalm 85 as follows. God's guardian care of His people celebrated. Psalms 121:2. It has been proved, beyond a doubt, that the moon smites as well as the sun, causing blindness for a time, and even the distortion of the features. Even in the sanctuary they drop on bills and stock and trade. The Lord's promise to be with us forever keeps us from covetousness and fear (Hebrews 13:56). Psalm 121:7 (MSG) What does Psalm 121 verse 8 mean? If, then, what we call disaster, and think to be so, be really amongst "all things which work together for [not merely precede, but produce the] man's good" as is so often the case (see 2 Corinthians 4:17), then is God's permission or sending of that disaster a falsifying of the promise of this psalm. The Psalms offer an important message to those who long for sleep in the midst of lifes anxious times. The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil; He shall preserve thy soul. There is no more in the setting of the two terms than poetical repetition. about it; in all ways, works, and conversation; in journeying and All rights reserved. Psalms 121:8. The moon may very well be taken as the type of the secret, subtle, insidious perils of the godly life; and these are chiefly to be dreaded. Psalm 121:7 (KJV) 2. THE PROMISE MAY BE TRUE TO THE HEART WHEN ITS FULFILLMENT IS NOT APPARENT TO THE EYE. I. As we contemplate the awful number of victims to such causes as we have named, and the yet worse ruin which comes from moral causes, it is not to be wondered at that some regard this psalm as rather a pious imagination than the declaration of actual fact. good or prosperous foot. If our life is thus within the constant Divine inspection, we may put away all fears, and simply "seek the kingdom of God, and his righteousness."R.T. The assurance rises from the particular to the general. Jehovah will keep thee from all evil; He will keep thy soul. Psalm 121:7, KJV: The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The "holy hills," that stand round about Jerusalem, are intended (Psalms 87:1; Psalms 125:2). In Psalm 121:3b-4 we are told, [God] who keeps you will not slumber. He not only sees things, but sees the significance of things. That is, when a theme or message jumps out at you repeatedly. (Students). My help cometh from the Lord; literally, my help is from the Lord. The mariner, heedlessly sleeping on deck, becomes afflicted with nyctolopia, or night-blindness; at times the face is hideously swollen, if exposed during sleep to the moon's rays; the maniac's paroxysms are renewed with fearful vigor at the full and change, and the cold, damp chill of the ague supervenes on the ascendency of this apparently mild yet powerful luminary. Now, even in this literal sense, the promise was no mean one. He will watch over your life. "He shall keep thy soul." If you travelled from home to Jerusalem, you would go through upon princes and great men? He will keep your soul. The greater includes the less. THE MOUNTAINS CANNOT GIVE US HELP AND SAFETY. dangerous places. He will "not suffer thy foot to be moved" (Psalms 121:3); he will uphold us in the path of righteousness; and if we have to walk "in slippery places," yet his right hand will hold us, and our soul will not be stained with the sin which injures and defiles. But if God be ableas he isto impart that same and even greater inward happiness, peace, and joy by other means, and does so, as, blessed be his Name! This appears to be a prayer of the Jews in their captivity, who are solicitous for their restoration. 7 The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. And it is the fact for most thoughtfully disposed persons, that more help is gained for pious meditation from mountain districts than from the changeableness of the sea, or the varying but ever-gentle beauty of the landscapes. The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Targum is. The King James Bible (1611) and Strong's Concordance (1890) with Hebrew and Greek dictionaries are sourced from the BibleForgeDB database (https://github.com/bibleforge) within the BibleForge project (http://bibleforge.com). The right hand is the working hand; let them but turn to their duty, and they shall find God ready to give them success. There have been and there are exceptions, but taking the history of God's people in all ages, and looking at their average experience, may we not cryIt is well with the righteous; the Lord is their Keeper? Read it The preservation of the greater includes that of the less, so far as it is essential to the main design; the kernel shall be preserved, and in order thereto the shell shall be preserved also. AS APPLYING TO THE WHOLE OF OUR ACTIVE LIFE. We all face challenges. God watches over your life from beginning to end. Psalm 25 is an alphabet psalm, like Psalms 9 and 10. v1 When I look up to But in comparison with the soul's well-being, God counts these things as of no importance. The Lord will keep you safe from all evil; he will take care of your soul. We will not do that, but we will reply, I. Not the universal, but the general rule. Otherwise they are of no good at all, any more than the strains of sweetest music are to the deaf, or the most beautiful scenery to the blind. II. I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come? The Lord will protect you from all dangers; he will guard your life. Do not fear him, declares the LORD, for I am with you, to save you and to deliver you from his hand.. But: 1. Look up, and grow strong. Let us be found in our work, assured that the blessings promised in this psalm are ours. It is constantly complained of that where, in the original Scriptures, the sacred writers employ only one word, our translators have put for that one word, two, three, four, five, or even several more different English words, thus conveying to our minds several ideas, where it was the intention of the Scriptures to convey only one. We must see all our help in God; from him we must expect it, in his own way and time. to be the contraction of (wmep It is inconceivable that we can be placed in any circumstances or conditions which are unknown to him. We go out in the morning refreshed, vigorous, full of conscious power, and in some peril of stir-reliance. But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. Variations of the Hebrew root word for "keep" appear in verses 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8. It is the inward happiness and peace and joy which these things impart which gives them their value. Psalms 121:8. Plead for his sustaining grace. in The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil; He shall preserve thy soul. The Spirit, who is their Preserver and Comforter, shall abide with them for ever. The LORD will protect you from all evil; God will protect your very life. Business man is world-absorbed. By his wonderful overrulings, which constantly turn seeming evil into real and permanent good. This psalm gives us a picture of a Christian pilgrim with a deep longing for God finding the greatest blessedness in his journey being the worship of the Lord. We can count on the constancy of his care. The sun shall not smite by day, nor the moon by night; "the Lord will preserve us from all evil" (Psalms 121:6, Psalms 121:7). But we need not miss the important fact that God's soul-keeping runs along with, and works through, our own soul-keeping. Psalm 121:7 (NCV) The one that *guards Israel will never sleep. Please enter your email address associated with your Salem All-Pass account, then click Continue. Protection was especially needed on the right hand, as the side which no shield guarded. "Man goeth forth to his work and to his labor until the evening;" then he cometh in for rest. word list at the end explains all the words that have a *star by them. It is the steadfast love of the Lord Believe it. Psalm 121:7 (NIRV) Psalm 121:7 (RSVA) Proud member Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.. II. See Psalm 121:7 with its adjacent verses in bold below. And their experience reminds us of some important truths. v3 He will not let your foot *slide. But God does not call calamity evil. God gives to his beloved sleep (Psalm 127:2), and we are able to rest only because we know God never does. 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