< Psalms 124 >
1 You Israeli [people], [answer this question]: What [would have happened to us] if Yahweh had not been (helping/fighting for) us?
A song of ascents. Of David. If the LORD had not been on our side— let Israel now declare—
2 When [our enemies] attacked us, if Yahweh had not been fighting for us,
if the LORD had not been on our side when men attacked us,
3 we would have all been killed [IDM] because they were very angry with us!
when their anger flared against us, then they would have swallowed us alive,
4 [They would have been like] [MET] a flood that swept/carried us away; [it would have been as though] the water would have covered us,
then the floods would have engulfed us, then the torrent would have overwhelmed us,
5 and we would [all] have drowned in the flood that was (raging/flowing very fast).
then the raging waters would have swept us away.
6 [But] praise Yahweh, because he has not allowed our [enemies to destroy us] [like wild animals] [MET] tear apart [the creatures that they capture].
Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as prey to their teeth.
7 We have escaped [from our enemies] like a bird escapes from the trap that hunters have set; [it is as though] the trap [that our enemies set for us] was broken and we have escaped from it!
We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowler; the net is torn, and we have slipped away.
8 Yahweh is the one who helps us [MTY]; he is the one who made heaven and the earth.
Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.