Chapter Overview
Summary
Psalm 124 (MT) / Psalm 123 (LXX) is the fifth Song of Ascents — a Davidic thanksgiving for national-deliverance. The psalm's opening 'If the LORD had not been on our side' (ILEI YHWH shehayah-lanu) and its vivid escape-from-the-snare imagery make it a classic communal-deliverance-testimony.
Notable Variants
124:7 'our soul has escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers' as deliverance-from-entrapment image; 124:8 'our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth' as liturgical-formula (Sursum Corda response).
Structural Notes
MT Ps 124 = LXX Ps 123. 8 verses. Fifth Song of Ascents.
A song of ascents. Of David. If the LORD had not been on our side — let Israel say it —
'If it had not been the LORD who was on our side — let Israel now say' tracks MT.
if the LORD had not been on our side when people rose against us —
'If it had not been the LORD who was on our side when people rose up against us' tracks MT. HAD-NOT-THE-LORD-BEEN-ON-OUR-SIDE counterfactual. Romans 8:31 ('if God is for us, who can be against us?') shares the confidence-in-divine-support.
then they would have swallowed us alive when their anger burned against us.
'Then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us' tracks MT.
Then the waters would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over our lives.
'Then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us' tracks MT. FLOOD-WOULD-HAVE-SWEPT — water-as-hostile-force.
Then over our lives would have swept the raging waters.
'Then over us would have gone the raging waters' tracks MT.
Blessed be the LORD, who did not give us as prey to their teeth.
'Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as prey to their teeth!' tracks MT.
We are like a bird escaped from the fowler's trap — the trap broke and we escaped!
'We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped!' tracks MT. BIRD-FROM-THE-FOWLER'S-SNARE — signature escape-image. Proverbs 6:5 ('save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler').
Our help is in the name of the LORD, maker of heaven and earth.
'Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth' tracks MT. OUR-HELP-IS-IN-THE-NAME liturgical-formula. Christian-liturgical tradition: 'Our help is in the Name of the Lord' / 'Who made heaven and earth' as the SURSUM CORDA-area of the opening-of-Mass or Divine Office.