otcanon
Psalms 124
Israel confesses, in the liturgical repetition that opens the psalm, that every deliverance from consuming enemies has depended entirely on Jehovah's intervention — not on Israel's own strength. The flood imagery (waters overwhelming, proud waves passing over) recalls the Reed Sea and every siege that should have ended in annihilation. The snare broken and the bird escaped is the covenant pattern: Jehovah does not permit His people to be swallowed whole when they remain His. The closing anchor is doctrinal — help is in the name of Jehovah, the Maker of heaven and earth, the only ground of confidence that does not shift.
1
If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, now may Israel say;
2
If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us:
3
Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us:
4
Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:
5
Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.
6
Blessed be the LORD, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.
7
Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.
8
Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
