Psalm 124sn 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 currenttn Or “stream.” would have overwhelmedtn 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.”
fortn 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.
the Creatortn Or “Maker.” of heaven and earth.
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