I to the hills...

I to the hills will lift mine eyes.
From whence doth come mine aid?
My safety cometh from the Lord,
who heaven and earth hath made.

The lines above come from an old metrical version of one of my favourite psalms, Psalm 121. A more modern version of these verses is probably easier to understand: ‘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.’ Ps121:1,2 (New International Version) The song was probably written to reflect the feelings of people facing a pilgrimage through rough, mountainous and dangerous terrain.

The Book of Psalms is found in what is commonly called the Old Testament. The O.T. is a collection of writings that made up the sacred texts of ancient Israel. These Hebrew Scriptures came to be known by Christians as the Old Testament after the formation of a subsequent collection of writings, the so-called New Testament. The N.T. reflected on the significance of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christians gathered the O.T. books and the N.T. books into one collection of ‘holy scriptures’ now known as the Bible. The question of which books made up the Bible was more or less settled by the year 400. All the books in the Bible are probably no later than 100AD or CE. The earliest Christian believers used them as a guide to authentic Christian living.

I to the hills… is a blog where I share reflections and thoughts on general reading, current events, and theology, as well as personal stuff too.