Psalms 27:13

27:13 Where would I be if I did not believe I would experience

the Lord’s favor in the land of the living? ¹ 

Psalms 94:17

94:17 If the Lord had not helped me,

I would have laid down in the silence of death. ² 

Psalms 124:2

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

when men attacked us, ³ 

Psalms 106:23

106:23 He threatened ⁴  to destroy them,

but ⁵  Moses, his chosen one, interceded with him ⁶ 

and turned back his destructive anger. ⁷ 

Psalms 124:1

Psalm 124 ⁸ 

A song of ascents, ⁹  by David.

124:1 “If the Lord had not been on our side” –

let Israel say this! –

[27:13]  ¹ tn In the Hebrew text the sentence is incomplete: “If I had not believed [I would] see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” The words “Where would I be” are supplied in the translation to clarify the intent of the statement.

[94:17]  ² tn Heb “If the Lord [were] not my help, quickly my life would have lain down in silence.” The psalmist, perhaps speaking as the nation’s representative, recalls God’s past intervention. For other examples of conditional sentences with the term לוּלֵי (luley, “if not”) in the protasis and a perfect verbal form in the apodosis, see Pss 119:92 and 124:2-5.

[124:2]  ³ tn Heb “rose up against us.”

[106:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “and he said.”

[106:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “if not,” that is, “[and would have] if [Moses] had not.”

[106:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “stood in the gap before him.”

[106:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “to turn back his anger from destroying.”

[124:1]  ⁵ sn Psalm 124. Israel acknowledges that the Lord delivered them from certain disaster.

[124:1]  ⁶ 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.