Psalms 124

Israel's Deliverance Recalled and Praised

4 passages

Overview

In this communal Song of Ascents, Israel twice confesses that God alone stood on their side, rehearses through vivid images of engulfment, flood, and a bird escaping a broken snare the mortal dangers from which only the Lord delivered them, and closes with the solemn declaration that all help comes from the name of Yahweh, Creator of heaven and earth.

Passages

1–2The Antiphonal Opening: Israel's Confession of Divine Dependence 3–5The Peril Recalled: Images of Engulfment and Overwhelm 6–7Blessed Be Yahweh: The Cry of Gratitude and the Freed Bird 8The Closing Profession of Faith: Help in the Name of Yahweh

Study Resources

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Psalms 124

¹A Song of Ascents. By David. If it had not been Yahweh who was on our side, let Israel now say,

²if it had not been Yahweh who was on our side, when men rose up against us,

³then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their wrath was kindled against us,

⁴then the waters would have overwhelmed us, the stream would have gone over our soul.

⁵Then the proud waters would have gone over our soul.

⁶Blessed be Yahweh, who has not given us as a prey to their teeth.

⁷Our soul has escaped like a bird out of the fowler’s snare. The snare is broken, and we have escaped.

⁸Our help is in Yahweh’s name, who made heaven and earth.

Psalms 123 Psalms 125