Is the title prefixed to fifteen psalms, from Psalm 120 to Psalm 134 inclusive. Of this title commentators have proposed a variety of explanations. The most probable are the following: First, pilgrim songs, sung by the Israelites while going up to Jerusalem to worship; compare Psalm 122:4; but to this explanation the contents of only a few of these psalms are appropriate, as for instance, of Psalm 122:1-9. Secondly, others suppose the title to refer to a species of rhythm in these psalms; by which the sense ascends, as it were, by degrees, one member or clause frequently repeating the words with which the preceding member closes. Thus in Psalm 121:1-8,

1. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, From whence cometh my help.

2. My help cometh from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.

3. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved; Thy keeper will not slumber.

4. Lo, not slumber nor sleep will the keeper of Israel.

But this solution does not well apply to all these psalms.

On the Psalms. I.
... inscriptions nowhere contain the word "songs," but only "psalm" or "psalms;" for
the ... songs" at the end; and wherever there is the word "degrees," there we do ...
/.../hippolytus/the extant works and fragments of hippolytus/on the psalms i.htm

After These Things, Her Nine Months Being Fulfilled, Anna Brought ...
... Another reading is: And there were about the temple, according to the fifteen Psalms
of Degrees, fifteen steps of ascent: the temple was on a mountain, and ...
/.../unknown/the gospel of pseudo-matthew/chapter 4 after these things.htm

Three Degrees of Love I Shall Tell Thee, for I Would that Thou ...
... Then must thou be long over a few psalms. ... second degree also: for languishing is
when men fail for sickness, and they who are in these two degrees fail from ...
/.../chapter viii three degrees of.htm

In Judaea
... 5, 6). It is from such pilgrim-psalms by the way as Psalm 84 or from the Songs of
Ascent to the Holy City (commonly known as the Psalms of Degrees), that we ...
/.../edersheim/sketches of jewish social life/chapter 5 in judaea.htm

And when the Circle of Three Years had Rolled Round...
... Now there were round the temple, according to the fifteen Psalms of Degrees, [1696]
fifteen steps going up; for, on account of the temple having been built on ...
/.../unknown/the gospel of the nativity of mary/chapter 6 and when the.htm

The Gate of Nicanor, or the East Gate of the Court of Israel.
... stood upon the fifteen steps going down out of the Court of Israel into the Women's
Court, singing according to the number of the fifteen psalms of degrees," &c ...
/.../lightfoot/from the talmud and hebraica/chapter 30 the gate of.htm

Letter vii. To Chromatius, Jovinus, and Eusebius.
... [97] He can scale already that ladder of which the psalms of degrees [98] are a
type; whilst I, still weeping on its first step, hardly know whether I shall ...
/.../jerome/the principal works of st jerome/letter vii to chromatius jovinus.htm

How the Fact that the Number of the Psalms was to be Twelve was ...
... of weak ones is sure to be found); and when in different degrees they strove, each
according to his own powers, to fix an enormous number of Psalms, and some ...
/.../cassian/the works of john cassian /chapter v how the fact.htm

Appendix 1 Massecheth Middoth
... And fifteen steps went up from there to the Court of Israel, like the fifteen
degrees in the Psalms [Songs of Degrees in the Psalms]. ...
/.../edersheim/sketches of jewish social life/appendix 1 massecheth middoth.htm

The Good Shepherd' and his one Flock' - Last Discourse at the ...
... the thought expressed in one line or one couplet is carried forward and developed
in the next, forming what are called the Psalms of Ascent (of Degrees'). ...
/.../the life and times of jesus the messiah/chapter x the good shepherd.htm