Unto the hills around me I lift up

Authors:
Themes:
Scriptures:
  • Genesis 1:1-5
  • Genesis 2:1-15
  • Genesis 28:10-19
  • Numbers 27:15-17
  • Deuteronomy 28:6
  • Deuteronomy 31:2
  • 1 Kings 3:7
  • 2 Kings 19:15
  • Job 17:15
  • Psalms 121
  • Psalms 124:8
  • Psalms 126:6
  • Psalms 127:1-3
  • Psalms 9:11
  • Psalms 91:12
  • Psalms 91:5-6
  • Jeremiah 3:23
  • Daniel 5:23
  • Nahum 1:7
  • Matthew 11:13
  • Matthew 6:13
  • Luke 11:4
  • Luke 21:18-19
  • Jude 24-25
Book Number:
  • 121B

Unto the hills around me I lift up
my longing eyes;
from where for me shall my salvation come,
my help arise?
From God the Lord shall come my certain aid,
from God the Lord, who heaven and earth has made.

2. Your God will never let your footsteps stray,
his grasp is sure;
he will not sleep, but holds your life in his;
you are secure:
God never slumbers; he is always there,
and keeps his people in his holy care.

3. God is the Lord, your stronghold and defence,
your shield and shade;
he will protect by his almighty power
the life he made:
no sun shall harm you from its noonday height;
nor moon afflict you in the silent night.

4. From every evil he shall keep your soul,
from every sin;
God shall preserve your life as you go out,
as you come in:
watching above you, he whom we adore
will keep you henceforth and for evermore.

© In this version Praise TrustThis text has been altered by Praise!An unaltered JUBILATE text can be found at www.jubilate.co.uk
J D S Campbell 1845-1914

The Christian Life - Submission and Trust

Downloadable Items

Would you like access to our downloadable resources?

Unlock downloadable content for this hymn by subscribing today. Enjoy exclusive resources and expand your collection with our additional curated materials!

Subscribe now

If you already have a subscription, log in here to regain access to your items.

Tunes

  • Basingstoke
    Basingstoke
    Metre:
    • 10 4 10 4 10 10
    Composer:
    • Clarke, James
  • Sandon
    Sandon
    Metre:
    • 10 4 10 4 10 10
    Composer:
    • Purday, Charles Henry

The story behind the hymn

John Douglas Sutherland Campbell’s version dates from 1866, when the author was barely 21 and before he began his distinguished public career. Like the previous item, but unlike Coverdale or Henry Vaughan, it retains the all-important question-mark in its second clause. Markedly in stzs 2 and 3 it was updated for HTC, and except for line 3 that text is adopted here including a rare use of ‘unto’, surviving as the first and familiar word. Other versions of this Scripture, more clearly a ‘Song of Ascents’ than 120, include Timothy Dudley-Smith’s much freer text I lift my eyes to the quiet hills and paraphrases by Bill Batstone, Brian Foley, David Preston, Emma Turl, Isaac Watts (of course) and the characteristic Up to those bright and gladsome hills (no question-mark) from Henry Vaughan in 1655. Charles Wesley’s fine To the hills I lift mine eyes was dropped by the Methodists in 1983 and is now rarely printed. James Clarke composed BASINGSTOKE while a pupil at Leighton Park School nr Reading, in the 1950s. Written for Newman’s Lead, kindly Light, it was published in BP (1986) with a David Preston text. Here it is preferred to SANDON, for which see 28.

A look at the author

Campbell, John Douglas Sutherland

b Westminster, London 1845, d E Cowes, Isle of Wight 1914. Eton Coll; St Andrews; and Trinity Coll Cambridge. He was Marquis of Lorne and sat as MP for Argyllshire 1868–78; in 1871 he married Princess Louise, the 4th daughter of Queen Victoria. From 1878 to 1883 he was Governor General of Canada, and Governor and Constable of Windsor Castle from 1892, returning to parliament as MP for Manchester South from 1895 to 1900, when he became 9th Duke of Argyll. His many writings included an account of Canadian life and scenery, a guide to Windsor Castle, and The Book of Psalms, literally rendered in verse (1877) and no.121B.