A song of ascents. Of David.
This thanksgiving psalm is the fifth of fifteen songs of ascents. It is likely that these songs were sung as people traveled to Jerusalem and then went up to the temple. Some portions of these psalms fit into a call-response corporate prayer or song, with the audience responding to instructions.
As this song is of David, Kidner suggests a setting such as 2 Samuel 5:17-25.
Psalm 124:1-3, Let Israel say...
If the LORD had not been on our side--
let Israel say--
if the LORD had not been on our side
when men attacked us,
when their anger flared against us,
they would have swallowed us alive;
The first verse may be a call out to a congregation, with the response beginning in verse 2. The singer recalls approaching death as being swallowed alive. The metaphor shifts in the next passage.
Psalm 124:4-5, Flood waters
the flood would have engulfed us,
the torrent would have swept over us,
the raging waters
would have swept us away.
The description of the overwhelming torrent has a chiasmic ABBA structure, says Alter, a structure lost by the NIV. Alter's translation of verses 4 and 5 is
Then the waters would have swept us up,
the torrent come up past our necks,
Then it would have come up past our necks,
the raging waters.
Psalm 124:6-7, Escaped the snare
Praise be to the LORD,
who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
We have escaped like a bird out of the fowler's snare;
the snare has been broken,
and we have escaped.
The metaphor returns to that of the second verse, of fear of being an animal caught in a snare, eaten alive.
Psalm 124:8, Creator of heaven and earth
Our help is in the name of the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
The final verse repeats an underlying theme of the songs of ascent (explicit in Psalm 121:2 and 134:3)-- that it is YHWH, Creator, in whom the people trust
First published November 6, 2025; updated November 6, 2025
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