Text -- Psalms 124:1-8 (NET)

Psalm 124

124:1 A song of ascents, by David. “If the Lord had not been on our side”– let Israel say this!– 124:2 if the Lord had not been on our side, when men attacked us, 124:3 they would have swallowed us alive, when their anger raged against us. 124:4 The water would have overpowered us; the current would have overwhelmed us. 124:5 The raging water would have overwhelmed us. 124:6 The Lord deserves praise, for he did not hand us over as prey to their teeth. 124:7 We escaped with our lives, like a bird from a hunter’s snare. The snare broke, and we escaped. 124:8 Our deliverer is the Lord, the Creator of heaven and earth.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Psa 124:1

¹ sn Psalm 124. Israel acknowledges that the Lord delivered them from certain disaster.

² 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.

NET Notes: Psa 124:2

¹ tn Heb “rose up against us.”

NET Notes: Psa 124:4

¹ tn Or “stream.”

² tn Heb “would have passed over.”

³ 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).

NET Notes: Psa 124:5

¹ tn Heb “then they would have passed over our being, the raging waters.”

NET Notes: Psa 124:6

¹ tn Heb “blessed [be] the Lord.”

² tn Heb “[the one] who.”

NET Notes: Psa 124:7

¹ tn Heb “our life escaped.”

NET Notes: Psa 124:8

¹ tn Heb “our help [is] in the name of the Lord.”

² tn Or “Maker.”