Psalms 124
Psalm 124 ▼▼sn Psalm 124. Israel acknowledges that the Lord delivered them from certain disaster.
A song of ascents; ▼▼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. by David.
1 “If the Lord had not been on our side”— let Israel say this.—
2 if the Lord had not been on our side,
when men attacked us, ▼
▼tn Heb “rose up against us.”
3 they would have swallowed us alive,
when their anger raged against us.
4 The water would have overpowered us;
the current ▼
▼tn Or “stream.”
would have overwhelmed ▼▼tn Heb “would have passed over.”
us. ▼▼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).
5 The raging water
would have overwhelmed us. ▼
▼tn Heb “then they would have passed over our being, the raging waters.”
6 The Lord deserves praise, ▼
▼tn Heb “blessed [be] the Lord.”
for ▼
▼tn Heb “[the one] who.”
he did not hand us over as prey to their teeth. 7 We escaped with our lives, ▼
▼tn Heb “our life escaped.”
like a bird from a hunter’s snare. The snare broke, and we escaped.
8 Our deliverer is the Lord, ▼
▼tn Heb “our help [is] in the name of the Lord.”
the Creator ▼
▼tn Or “Maker.”
of heaven and earth.
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