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God the Protector of His People[a]

124 What if the Lord had not been on our side?
    Answer, O Israel!

“If the Lord had not been on our side
    when our enemies attacked us,
then they would have swallowed us alive
    in their furious anger against us;
then the flood would have carried us away,
    the water would have covered us,
    the raging torrent would have drowned us.”

Let us thank the Lord,
    who has not let our enemies destroy us.
We have escaped like a bird from a hunter's trap;
    the trap is broken, and we are free!
Our help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 124:1 HEBREW TITLE: By David.

124 1-5 If God hadn’t been for us
    —all together now, Israel, sing out!—
If God hadn’t been for us
    when everyone went against us,
We would have been swallowed alive
    by their violent anger,
Swept away by the flood of rage,
    drowned in the torrent;
We would have lost our lives
    in the wild, raging water.

Oh, blessed be God!
    He didn’t go off and leave us.
He didn’t abandon us defenseless,
    helpless as a rabbit in a pack of snarling dogs.

We’ve flown free from their fangs,
    free of their traps, free as a bird.
Their grip is broken;
    we’re free as a bird in flight.

God’s strong name is our help,
    the same God who made heaven and earth.