Psalms 124
What Happens in This Chapter
This is a short song of thanks. Israel remembers a time when enemies came against them. If God had not helped, they would have been destroyed like people swept away by a flood. Instead they got free, like a bird slipping out of a trap, and they thank God for it.
Plain reading written for kids. Short sentences, everyday words, one idea at a time.
If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, now may Israel say;
1Let Israel say it out loud: what if the LORD had not been on our side?
The word LORD in capital letters stands for God's own name.
2If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us:
2What if the LORD had not helped us when people attacked us?
3Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us:
3They were very angry at us. They would have swallowed us alive.
4Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:
4The water would have covered us. The rushing river would have carried us away.
5Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.
5The wild, roaring water would have swept us away.
6Blessed be the LORD, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.
6Thank the LORD! He did not let them tear us apart like animals eating a catch.
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 out of a hunter's trap. The trap broke, and we are free.
The KJV word "fowlers" means hunters who caught birds with nets or traps.
8Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
8Our help comes from the LORD. He made the heavens and the earth.
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