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124. Psalm 124

¹ If the LORD had not been on our side—
   let Israel say—
² if the LORD had not been on our side
   when people attacked us,
³ they would have swallowed us alive
   when their anger flared against us;
⁴ the flood would have engulfed us,
   the torrent would have swept over us,
⁵ the raging waters
   would have swept us away.

    ⁶ Praise be to the LORD,
   who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
⁷ We have escaped like a bird
   from the fowler’s snare;
the snare has been broken,
   and we have escaped.
⁸ Our help is in the name of the LORD,
   the Maker of heaven and earth.

Ps 124:1-8. The writer, for the Church, praises God for past, and expresses trust for future, deliverance from foes.

1, 2. on our side—for us (Ps 56:9).

now—or, "oh! let Israel"

2. rose … against, &c.—(Ps 3:1; 56:11).

3. Then—that is, the time of our danger.

quick—literally, "living" (Nu 16:32, 33), description of ferocity.

4, 5. (Compare Ps 18:4, 16).

5. The epithet proud added to waters denotes insolent enemies.

6, 7. The figure is changed to that of a rapacious wild beast (Ps 3:7), and then of a fowler (Ps 91:3), and complete escape is denoted by breaking the net.

8. (Compare Ps 121:2).

name—in the usual sense (Ps 5:11; 20:1). He thus places over against the great danger the omnipotent God, and drowns, as it were in an anthem, the wickedness of the whole world and of hell, just as a great fire consumes a little drop of water [Luther].