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Wisdom & Poetry · Old Testament

Psalms 124

Psalm 124: if the Lord had not been on our side

General context

The psalm begins with a conditional sentence, if it had not been the Lord who was on our side, and says that Israel may now say so. The line is repeated, adding the moment when men rose up against them. Three consequences follow: they would have swallowed the group up alive when their wrath was kindled, the waters would have overwhelmed them and the stream gone over their soul, and the proud waters would have gone over their soul. The group then blesses the Lord who has not given them as prey to the teeth of their enemies. Their soul has escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken and they are escaped. The psalm ends by placing their help in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.

Cited passages: Psalms 124:1, Psalms 124:2, Psalms 124:3, Psalms 124:4, Psalms 124:5, Psalms 124:6, Psalms 124:7, Psalms 124:8

Psalms 124 (KJV)

1If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say;

2If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us:

3Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us:

4Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:

5Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.

6Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.

7Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.

8Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

The source prints no heading for this psalm; verse 1 begins with "If it had not been the Lord who was on our side", so no title, author or occasion is given and none is asserted. The voice is plural throughout, and verse 1 names Israel as the one who may say these words. The attackers are only "men" who "rose up against us" with kindled wrath; the psalm does not name them, say when they rose, or describe the danger except through pictures of swallowing, flood, teeth and a snare. The escape is stated as complete, "the snare is broken, and we are escaped", but no event is narrated. The closing line, help "in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth", closely matches Psalm 121:2 in this collection, which has "which made heaven and earth". No Selah occurs.

Cited passages: Psalms 124:1, Psalms 124:2, Psalms 124:3, Psalms 124:7, Psalms 124:8, Psalms 121:2

Literary context

The poem is built on a repeated "if" and a repeated "then". The opening condition is stated twice, word for word, and then three "Then" lines give what would have happened, each with water or swallowing: "swallowed us up quick", "the waters had overwhelmed us", "the proud waters had gone over our soul". The phrase "over our soul" closes verses 4 and 5. Verse 6 breaks the pattern with a blessing, and the enemies become animals with teeth, while the group becomes a bird that has escaped a fowler's snare. "Escaped" is said twice in verse 7. The last verse sets "our help" against the earlier "on our side" and names the Lord as maker of heaven and earth, so the psalm moves from a danger that is imagined to a rescue that is declared.

Cited passages: Psalms 124:1, Psalms 124:3, Psalms 124:4, Psalms 124:5, Psalms 124:6, Psalms 124:7, Psalms 124:8

Key moments

  1. If the Lord had not been ours (Psalms 124:1). The psalm opens with the condition that Israel is told it may now say.
  2. Swallowed alive (Psalms 124:3). The first consequence imagined is being swallowed up alive in kindled wrath.
  3. Proud waters over the soul (Psalms 124:5). The imagined flood ends with the proud waters going over their soul.
  4. Not given as prey (Psalms 124:6). The group blesses the Lord who has not given them as prey to their enemies' teeth.
  5. The snare is broken (Psalms 124:7). Their soul has escaped like a bird from the fowlers' snare.
  6. Help in the name of the Lord (Psalms 124:8). The psalm ends with their help in the name of the maker of heaven and earth.

For reflection

The psalm describes the danger only as what would have happened if the Lord had not been on their side. Why might the poem dwell on the disaster that did not occur rather than describe the rescue itself?

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