Psalms 124:2-5

124:2 if the Lord had not been on our side,

when men attacked us, ¹ 

124:3 they would have swallowed us alive,

when their anger raged against us.

124:4 The water would have overpowered us;

the current ²  would have overwhelmed ³  us. ⁴ 

124:5 The raging water

would have overwhelmed us. ⁵ 

[124:2]  ¹ tn Heb “rose up against us.”

[124:4]  ² tn Or “stream.”

[124:4]  ³ tn Heb “would have passed over.”

[124:4]  ⁴ 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).

[124:5]  ³ tn Heb “then they would have passed over our being, the raging waters.”