Unto the Hills Around Do I Lift Up
John Campbell, Duke of Argyll · 1877 · tune SANDON
Key of D · public domain
Words
My longing eyes;
O whence for me shall my salvation come,
From whence arise?
From God the Lord doth come my certain aid,
From God the Lord, who heaven and earth hath made.
Safe shalt thou be.
No careless slumber shall His eyelids close,
Who keepeth thee.
Behold, He sleepeth not, He slumbereth ne'er,
Who keepeth Israel in His holy care.
Thy changeless shade;
Jehovah thy defense on thy right hand
Himself hath made.
And thee no sun by day shall ever smite;
No moon shall harm thee in the silent night.
From every sin;
Jehovah shall preserve thy going out,
Thy coming in.
Above thee watching, He whom we adore
Shall keep thee henceforth, yea, forevermore.
The story
John Campbell was Duke of Argyll and Governor General of Canada, and he made this paraphrase of Psalm 121 in 1877. The psalm is one of the Songs of Ascents, sung by people walking up to Jerusalem for the festivals, and the hills in the first line are not comforting scenery. They are the country the road goes through, where robbers wait. The question is real: I lift my eyes to those hills, and where is help going to come from? The answer takes the rest of the psalm. The part that is easy to miss is the repetition of one word. He keeps thee, He keeps thy soul, He keeps thy going out and thy coming in. Six times in eight verses the psalm says the same thing, as if it were making sure.
Chords in D
In the app you can move this to any key and it works out the capo for you.
Common questions
Who wrote Unto the Hills Around Do I Lift Up? John Campbell, Duke of Argyll wrote the words in 1877.
What tune is it sung to? SANDON, set here in the key of D.
What scripture is it built on? Psalm 121.
Is Unto the Hills Around Do I Lift Up free to use in church? Yes. The words are public domain, which means any church may sing them, print them in a bulletin, put them on a screen or record them, without asking permission and without paying anyone.
The psalm it came from
Unto the Hills Around Do I Lift Up is Psalm 121 set to a tune. The psalm itself is here in full — King James, Berean Standard and Reina-Valera side by side, with a note on what it is doing and where it sits in the book.
Themes
Psalms · Protection · Travel