Add parallel Print Page Options

A song to sing as we climb.

David wrote this song.[a]

124 If the Lord was not fighting for us,
    what would have happened?
Israel's people, now answer:
‘If the Lord was not fighting for us when men attacked us,
    our enemies would have eaten us alive![b]
They would have destroyed us,
    because they were so angry against us.
They would have been too strong for us,
    like rivers of waters that covered us,
They would have been like deep water over our heads
    that drowned us.[c]

We should praise the Lord!
He did not let our enemies destroy us,
    like wild animals that kill their food and eat it.
Now we have become free,
    like a bird that got free out of a trap.
Our enemies lost their power, and we are free![d]
The one who helped us is the Lord.
    He made the whole universe.’

Footnotes

  1. 124:0 David may have written this psalm when he was fighting the Philistines. David thought that the Philistines would win, but they did not. God gave David and his people help. The psalm says that if God had not helped his people, the enemy would have destroyed them.
  2. 124:3 ‘Eaten us alive’ is like a picture that means ‘destroyed us’.
  3. 124:5 The rivers and deep water are pictures of the power of the enemy.
  4. 124:7 A trap is something to catch an animal or bird in. David felt that Israel was in a trap. But God made them free!

Our Help Is in the Name of the Lord

A Song of (A)Ascents. Of David.

124 (B)If it had not been the Lord who was on our side—
    (C)let Israel now say—
if it had not been the Lord who was on our side
    when people rose up against us,
then they would have (D)swallowed us up alive,
    when their anger was kindled against us;
then (E)the flood would have (F)swept us away,
    the torrent would have gone (G)over us;
then over us would have gone
    the raging waters.

Blessed be the Lord,
    who has not given us
    as prey to their teeth!
We have escaped like a bird
    from (H)the snare of the fowlers;
the snare is broken,
    and we have escaped!

(I)Our help is in the name of the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth.

Psalm 124

A song of ascents. Of David.

If the Lord had not been on our side—
    let Israel say(A)
if the Lord had not been on our side
    when people attacked us,
they would have swallowed us alive
    when their anger flared against us;
the flood(B) would have engulfed us,
    the torrent(C) would have swept over us,
the raging waters
    would have swept us away.

Praise be to the Lord,
    who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
We have escaped like a bird
    from the fowler’s snare;(D)
the snare has been broken,(E)
    and we have escaped.
Our help is in the name(F) of the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven(G) and earth.