> [[psalm-123|← Previous]] | [[psalm-00|TOC]] | [[psalm-125|Next →]] --- # Psalm 124 ## God, the Rescuer of the People 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. \* (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 ([[exodus-18|Ex 18]]:4]. a. (124:1) [Ps 129:1]. b. (124:3) [Prv 1:12]. c. (124:4) ([[psalm-18|Ps 18]]:5]; [69:2]. d. (124:8) [Ps 121:2]; [146:6]. --- _New American Bible, revised edition_ (2010, 1991, 1986, 1970) Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. > [[psalm-123|← Previous]] | [[psalm-00|TOC]] | [[psalm-125|Next →]]