This song of degrees is the only one that is inscribed שׁיר למעלות and not שׁיר המעלות. The lxx, Targum, and Jerome render it as in the other instances; Aquila and Symmachus, on the contrary, ᾠδὴ (ᾆσμα) εἰς τάς ἀναβάσεις, as the Midrash Sifrı̂ also mystically interprets it: Song upon the steps, upon which God leads the righteous up into the other world. Those who explain המעלות of the homeward caravans or of the pilgrimages rightly regard this למעלות, occurring only once, as favouring their explanation. But the Lamed is that of the rule or standard. The most prominent distinguishing mark of Psa 121:1-8 is the step-like movement of the thoughts: it is formed למּעלות, after the manner of steps. The view that we have a pilgrim song before us is opposed by the beginning, which leads one to infer a firmly limited range of vision, and therefore a fixed place of abode and far removed from his native mountains. The tetrastichic arrangement of the Psalm is unmistakeable.
