Psalm 121 in Hebrew
This short psalm is headed “a song of ascents”, and it is often thought to have been sung by pilgrims walking up to Jerusalem. It asks a simple question in its first line and spends the rest of the poem answering it.
Learn to read this in Biblical Hebrew
No account needed. Your first line takes about three minutes.
The text and translation
שִׁיר לַמַּעֲלוֹת אֶשָּׂא עֵינַי אֶל־ הֶהָרִים מֵאַיִן יָבֹא עֶזְרִי׃
I will lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from?
Word by word
- שִׁיר
- song
- לַמַּעֲלוֹת
- step
- אֶשָּׂא
- to lift
- עֵינַי
- eye
- אֶל
- to, toward
- הֶהָרִים
- mountain
- מֵאַיִן
- from where?
- יָבֹא
- to come, go in
- עֶזְרִי
- help
עֶזְרִי מֵעִם יְהוָה עֹשֵׂה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ׃
My help comes from Yahweh, who made heaven and earth.
Word by word
- עֶזְרִי
- help
- מֵעִם
- from with
- יְהוָה
- Jehovah
- עֹשֵׂה
- to do
- שָׁמַיִם
- heavens
- וָאָרֶץ
- earth
אַל־ יִתֵּן לַמּוֹט רַגְלֶךָ אַל־ יָנוּם שֹׁמְרֶךָ׃
He will not allow your foot to be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber.
Word by word
- אַל
- not
- יִתֵּן
- to give
- לַמּוֹט
- to shaking
- רַגְלֶךָ
- foot
- אַל
- not
- יָנוּם
- to be drowsy
- שֹׁמְרֶךָ
- to keep
הִנֵּה לֹא־ יָנוּם וְלֹא יִישָׁן שׁוֹמֵר יִשְׂרָאֵל׃
Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
Word by word
- הִנֵּה
- look!
- לֹא
- not
- יָנוּם
- to be drowsy
- וְלֹא
- not
- יִישָׁן
- to sleep
- שׁוֹמֵר
- to keep
- יִשְׂרָאֵל
- Israel
יְהוָה שֹׁמְרֶךָ יְהוָה צִלְּךָ עַל־ יַד יְמִינֶךָ׃
Yahweh is your keeper. Yahweh is your shade on your right hand.
Word by word
- יְהוָה
- Jehovah
- שֹׁמְרֶךָ
- to keep
- יְהוָה
- Jehovah
- צִלְּךָ
- shadow
- עַל
- above
- יַד
- hand
- יְמִינֶךָ
- right hand
יוֹמָם הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ לֹא־ יַכֶּכָּה וְיָרֵחַ בַּלָּיְלָה׃
The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.
Word by word
- יוֹמָם
- daytime
- הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ
- sun
- לֹא
- not
- יַכֶּכָּה
- to smite
- וְיָרֵחַ
- moon
- בַּלָּיְלָה
- night
יְהוָה יִשְׁמָרְךָ מִכָּל־ רָע יִשְׁמֹר אֶת־ נַפְשֶׁךָ׃
Yahweh will keep you from all evil. He will keep your soul.
Word by word
- יְהוָה
- Jehovah
- יִשְׁמָרְךָ
- to keep
- מִכָּל
- all, every
- רָע
- evil
- יִשְׁמֹר
- to keep
- אֶת
- (marks the direct object)
- נַפְשֶׁךָ
- soul
יְהוָה יִשְׁמָר־ צֵאתְךָ וּבוֹאֶךָ מֵעַתָּה וְעַד־ עוֹלָם׃
Yahweh will keep your going out and your coming in, from this time forward, and forever more.
Word by word
- יְהוָה
- Jehovah
- יִשְׁמָר
- to keep
- צֵאתְךָ
- to go out
- וּבוֹאֶךָ
- to come, go in
- מֵעַתָּה
- now
- וְעַד
- as far as
- עוֹלָם
- forever, eternity
What to notice
- אֶשָּׂא עֵינַי אֶל־ הֶהָרִים means “I will lift up my eyes to the hills”, the line people remember.
- מֵאַיִן יָבֹא עֶזְרִי means “where does my help come from?” This is a question, and some older translations blur that. The answer starts the next line, with the same word, עֶזְרִי, “my help”.
- שׁוֹמֵר יִשְׂרָאֵל means “the keeper of Israel”. The root שׁמר, “keep” or “guard”, runs through the whole psalm, and spotting it is how you learn to see Hebrew roots at work.
Read it yourself
Urling teaches the words in this text first, so that when you reach it you can read it in Biblical Hebrew. It uses short lessons, and nothing has to be memorised from a list.
Learn to read this in Biblical Hebrew
No account needed. Your first line takes about three minutes.
Sources
Westminster Leningrad Codex with Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (Ps 121:1–121:8). English: World English Bible.
Text licence: Text public domain; morphology CC BY 4.0 (Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project).
Language pack licence: Text public domain; data CC BY 4.0 (credit the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project).
Text: Westminster Leningrad Codex (public domain). Morphology and lemmas: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project (CC BY 4.0). Glosses: OSHB Hebrew Lexicon index of Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906, public domain; index CC BY 4.0), Strong's (1890) as fallback, with AI-written corrections (marked "ai"). English: World English Bible (public domain, eBible.org).
The introduction and notes on this page were written by Claude (AI). Word glosses are AI-assisted, and so is the English unless the source above names another translator.