Psalms
Chapter 124
This short psalm is a song of thanks for rescue. Israel looks back at a time when enemies attacked, and says plainly that only the LORD's help kept them alive. The danger is pictured as a flood, as wild animals, and as a bird trap, and each time the people got away. The psalm ends by naming where their help comes from: the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
Plain reading written for preteens. Clear and complete, at about a fifth grade reading level.
If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, now may Israel say;
1Let Israel say it out loud: if the LORD had not been on our side—
2If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us:
2if the LORD had not been on our side when people attacked us,
3Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us:
3then they would have swallowed us alive when their anger burned against us.
"Swallowed us up quick" is old English for "swallowed us alive." "Quick" here means living, not fast.
4Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:
4The flood would have covered us, and the rushing water would have swept us away.
5Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.
5The wild, raging water would have carried us off.
6Blessed be the LORD, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.
6Praise the LORD, who did not let their teeth tear us apart like an animal caught by a hunter.
7Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.
7We got away like a bird escaping a hunter's trap. The trap broke, and we were free.
A "fowler" was a hunter who caught birds using nets and traps.
8Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
8Our help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
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