Monday with the New Psalms: Psalm 124

Psalm 124

1 A song of ascents. Of David.

Had not the LORD been with us,
let Israel say,
2 Had not the LORD been with us,
when people rose against us,
3 Then they would have swallowed us alive,
for their fury blazed against us.

4 Then the waters would have engulfed us,
the torrent overwhelmed us;
5 then seething water would have drowned us.

6 Blessed is the LORD, who did not leave us
to be torn by their teeth.
7 We escaped with our lives
like a bird from the fowler’s snare;

The snare was broken,
and we escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the LORD,
the maker of heaven and earth
--NABRE


1 A Song of Ascents. Of David.
"If the LORD had not been on our side,"
let Israel say--
2 "If the LORD had not been on our side
when people rose against us,
3 then would they have swallowed us alive
when their anger was kindled.

4 Then would the waters have engulfed us,
the torrent gone over us;
5 over our head would have swept
the raging waters."

6 Blest be the LORD who did not not give us
a prey to their teeth!
7 Our life, like a bird, has escaped
from the snare of the fowler.

Indeed, the snare has been broken,
and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the LORD,
who made heaver and earth.

--Revised Grail Psalms

NABRE notes:
[Psalm 124] A thanksgiving which teaches that Israel’s very existence is owed to God who rescues them. In the first part Israel’s enemies are compared to the mythic sea dragon (Ps 124:2b–3a; cf. Jer 51:34) and Flood (Ps 124:3b–5; cf. Is 51:9–10). The Psalm heightens the malice of human enemies by linking them to the primordial enemies of God’s creation. Israel is a bird freed from the trapper’s snare (Ps 124:6–8)—freed originally from Pharaoh and now from the current danger. [124:8] Our help is in the name: for the idiom, see Ex 18:4.