PSALMS 120–134 The Psalms of Degrees Fifteen brief Psalms follow, called Songs of Degrees, or, Ascents. They were in all probability used by Israel going up to Jerusalem three times a year to celebrate the feasts of the Lord—“Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, a testimony for Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord.” They are indeed Psalms of “the goings-up” for we rise higher and higher as we read through them. Prophetically they give us again the steps from trial and suffering