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Psalm 124[a]

A song of ascents;[b] by David.

124 “If the Lord had not been on our side”—
let Israel say this.—
if the Lord had not been on our side,
when men attacked us,[c]
they would have swallowed us alive,
when their anger raged against us.
The water would have overpowered us;
the current[d] would have overwhelmed[e] us.[f]
The raging water
would have overwhelmed us.[g]
The Lord deserves praise,[h]
for[i] he did not hand us over as prey to their teeth.
We escaped with our lives,[j] like a bird from a hunter’s snare.
The snare broke, and we escaped.
Our deliverer is the Lord,[k]
the Creator[l] of heaven and earth.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 124:1 sn Psalm 124. Israel acknowledges that the Lord delivered them from certain disaster.
  2. Psalm 124:1 sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.
  3. Psalm 124:2 tn Heb “rose up against us.”
  4. Psalm 124:4 tn Or “stream.”
  5. Psalm 124:4 tn Heb “would have passed over.”
  6. Psalm 124:4 tn Heb “our being.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).
  7. Psalm 124:5 tn Heb “then they would have passed over our being, the raging waters.”
  8. Psalm 124:6 tn Heb “blessed [be] the Lord.”
  9. Psalm 124:6 tn Heb “[the one] who.”
  10. Psalm 124:7 tn Heb “our life escaped.”
  11. Psalm 124:8 tn Heb “our help [is] in the name of the Lord.”
  12. Psalm 124:8 tn Or “Maker.”