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 David for those journeying to worship.

If the Eternal had not been with us—
    sing, Israel, sing—
If He had not been with us
    when the villains came for us,
When their anger flamed around us,
    they would have swallowed us up alive!
Their hatred was like a flood:
the waters were rising and would have engulfed us;
    the streams were rushing past and would have overcome us.
The furious waters would have broken over us.
    Battered and overwhelmed, we surely would have drowned!

Blessed be the Eternal
    who did not leave us
    to be torn by their fangs!
Our souls cry out: “We escaped with our lives like a bird
    from the fowler’s snare!
The snare was broken,
    and we escaped with our lives!”

Our help has come in the name of the Eternal,
    the Maker of heaven and earth!