This is probably the second most familiar psalm in its entirety, next to the 23rd Psalm. It’s short, another “Song of Ascent” — inspirational lines to sing while going up or, in this case, looking up.
It was read at the funeral of Senator Sam J. Ervin, a grandfatherly figure and country gentleman who found big-city fame in the halls of D.C., but returned to his tiny hometown in the hills of N.C.
“I will lift up my eyes to the hills — / From whence comes my help?” Reading the verse now after hearing it often, I noted its punctuation — an em dash in the middle, a question mark at the end.
People don’t recite the verse that way, as if the speaker has made a statement and then pauses for an instant — in wonder or deep thought or confusion, maybe — before asking their question.
The answer, of course, comes in the second verse: “My help comes from the Lord, / Who made heaven and earth.” I do agree, except that I don’t spell “Lord” as the Old Hebrew psalmist does.
And I’m not so sure that “the hills” alone are God’s Country, as it were. The iSoul is everywhere, in everything; from Hawksbill at sunrise to Bird Island at sunset; and in every breath we do take.