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Psalm 124:5

Then the proud waters would have gone over our soul.

3then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their wrath was kindled against us,
4then the waters would have overwhelmed us, the stream would have gone over our soul.
5Then the proud waters would have gone over our soul.
6Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as a prey to their teeth.
7Our soul has escaped like a bird out of the fowler’s snare. The snare is broken, and we have escaped.
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← Psalm 124:4Psalm 124:6 →
Notice

The words “would have” mark a disaster that did not happen, while “proud waters” keeps the force of the danger in view even after escape.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What danger from your past does the picture of “proud waters” help you name?

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How does the movement from overwhelming waters to escape shape your thanks to God?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

4 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 31:20In the shelter of your presence you will hide them from the plotting of man. You will keep them secretly in a dwelling away from the strife of tongues.Both passages describe protection from human hostility, pictured as shelter in Psalm 31 and escape from overwhelming waters in Psalm 124.
Jeremiah 5:22Don’t you fear me?’ says the LORD; ‘Won’t you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it can’t …Both passages describe forceful waters, though Jeremiah speaks of the sea’s boundary and the psalm pictures human danger.
Job 38:11and said, ‘You may come here, but no further. Your proud waves shall be stopped here’?Both describe waters as proud, with Job naming the limit God sets and the psalm recalling escape from overwhelming danger.
Psalm 93:3–4The floods have lifted up, LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift up their waves.Both passages portray rising waters with force and menace, using proud waters in Psalm 124 and floods lifting their waves in Psalm 93.
Where this verse fits

Gratitude. answered prayer. fear for the future.

What the Bible says about gratitude →What the Bible says about fear →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Read the flood image through to the escape

scriptureoncelight
Encouragement

The waters describe a threat that could have destroyed the people; the surrounding verses bless YHWH because he did not surrender them to it.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 124:5. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 124 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).