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Psalm 121:3-5
New Catholic Bible
Psalm 121:3-5
New Catholic Bible
3 He will not permit your foot to stumble;
he who guards you will not fall asleep.[a]
4 Indeed, the one who guards Israel
never slumbers, never sleeps.[b]
5 [c]The Lord serves as your guardian;
he is at your right hand to serve as your shade.
Footnotes
- Psalm 121:3 The pagan gods were said to sleep (as well as eat and drink), but the psalmist points out that the Lord never sleeps. Therefore, he can protect his devoted servants at all times and in all circumstances. The psalmist goes on to specify what this divine guardianship means. The Lord will not permit his faithful to “stumble” (see Pss 55:23; 66:9). He will also be their “shade” (v. 5; see Ps 91:1; Num 14:9; Jer 48:45; Lam 4:20), protecting them during the day or night (v. 6: see Pss 16:8; 91:5-6; 109:31). For the Lord is the Shepherd of his people (see Ps 23), who protects and guides them whether they are awake or sleeping, at home or on a journey, working or resting.
- Psalm 121:4 The Lord also watches over Israel without sleeping. He is a guard who never falls asleep at his post, never goes off duty. He is always watching over his people to protect them from their enemies.
- Psalm 121:5 The Lord maintains himself at his faithful’s “right hand,” the side of favor and trust, to “shade” them from the fierce heat of the sun and the malevolent influence of the moon. The ancients feared the evil spiritual effects of the moon (see Mt 17:15) as well as the bad physical effects of the sun (see Jud 8:3; Isa 49:10). The antiphon used with this psalm during the Easter Season in the Liturgy of the Hours, “The Lord watches over his people, and protects them as the apple of his eye,” reminds us that because of Christ’s Passion and Resurrection no physical or spiritual force can ever separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus (see Rom 8:31-39).
