New International Version
Psalms 124:3
3they would have swallowed us alive when their anger flared against us;
Psalms 124:3 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us:
- English Standard Version (ESV)then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us;
- New King James Version (NKJV)Then they would have swallowed us alive, When their wrath was kindled against us;
- New Living Translation (NLT)They would have swallowed us alive in their burning anger.
Context of Psalms 124:3
1If the Lord had not been on our side— let Israel say— 2if the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us, they would have swallowed us alive when their anger flared against us; 4the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, 5the raging waters would have swept us away.
Read all of Psalms 124Psalms 124:3 word by word
אֲ֭זַי חַיִּ֣ים בְּלָע֑וּנוּ בַּחֲר֖וֹת אַפָּ֣ם בָּֽנוּ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Psalms 124:3
- Psalms 27:2When the wicked advance against me to devour me, it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall.
- Psalms 35:25Do not let them think, “Aha, just what we wanted!” or say, “We have swallowed him up.”
- Psalms 56:1Be merciful to me, my God, for my enemies are in hot pursuit; all day long they press their attack.
- Psalms 57:3He sends from heaven and saves me, rebuking those who hotly pursue me— God sends forth his love and his faithfulness.
- Psalms 74:8They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely!” They burned every place where God was worshiped in the land.
- Psalms 83:4“Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation, so that Israel’s name is remembered no more.”
- Esther 3:6Yet having learned who Mordecai’s people were, he scorned the idea of killing only Mordecai. Instead Haman looked for a way to destroy all Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes.
- Numbers 16:30But if the Lord brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the realm of the dead, then you will know that these men have treated the Lord with contempt.”
- Proverbs 1:12let’s swallow them alive, like the grave, and whole, like those who go down to the pit;
- Jeremiah 51:34“Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured us, he has thrown us into confusion, he has made us an empty jar. Like a serpent he has swallowed us and filled his stomach with our delicacies, and then has spewed us out.
- Jonah 1:17Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
- Psalms 76:10Surely your wrath against mankind brings you praise, and the survivors of your wrath are restrained.
- 1 Samuel 20:30Saul’s anger flared up at Jonathan and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don’t I know that you have sided with the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you?
- Daniel 3:19Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and his attitude toward them changed. He ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual
- Matthew 2:16When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.
- Acts 9:2and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.
Commentaries on Psalms 124:3
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 3Then they had swallowed us up quick - There was no other help, and ruin - utter ruin - would have soon come upon us. The word quick here means alive; and the idea is derived from persons swallowed up in an earthquake, or by the opening of the earth, as in the case of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Numbers 16:32-33. Compare Psalm 106:17. The meaning here is, that they would have been destroyed as if they were swallowed up by the opening of the earth; that is…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-8This thanksgiving song describes what might happen if the Lord were not present with his people.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 33. Then--that is, the time of our danger. quick--literally, "living" (Nu 16:32, 33), description of ferocity.Read the comment
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Psalms 124
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- The Treasury of David
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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Commentaries