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Psalm 124

A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem. A psalm of David.

What if the Lord had not been on our side?
    Let all Israel repeat:
What if the Lord had not been on our side
    when people attacked us?
They would have swallowed us alive
    in their burning anger.
The waters would have engulfed us;
    a torrent would have overwhelmed us.
Yes, the raging waters of their fury
    would have overwhelmed our very lives.

Praise the Lord,
    who did not let their teeth tear us apart!
We escaped like a bird from a hunter’s trap.
    The trap is broken, and we are free!
Our help is from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth.

Psalm 124

A pilgrimage song. Of David.

124 If the Lord hadn’t been for us—
    let Israel now repeat!—
    if the Lord hadn’t been for us,
        when those people attacked us
then they would have swallowed us up whole
        with their rage burning against us!
Then the waters would have drowned us;
    the torrent would have come over our necks;[a]
    then the raging waters would have come over our necks!

Bless the Lord
    because he didn’t hand us over
    like food for our enemies’ teeth!
We escaped like a bird from the hunters’ trap;
    the trap was broken so we escaped!

Our help is in the name of the Lord,
    the maker of heaven and earth.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 124:4 Or soul; also in 124:5, 7