Psalm 123–124

A Prayer for Mercy

A song for going up to worship.

123Lord, I look upward to you,

you who live in heaven.

²Slaves depend on their masters,

and a female servant depends on her mistress.

In the same way, we depend on the Lord our God;

we wait for him to show us mercy.

³Have mercy on us, Lord. Have mercy on us,

because we have been insulted.

⁴We have suffered many insults from lazy people

and much cruelty from the proud.

The Lord Saves His People

A song for going up to worship. Of David.

124What if the Lord had not been on our side?

(Let Israel repeat this.)

²What if the Lord had not been on our side

when we were attacked?

³When they were angry with us,

they would have swallowed us alive.

⁴They would have been like a flood drowning us;

they would have poured over us like a river.

⁵They would have swept us away like a mighty stream.

⁶Praise the Lord,

who did not let them chew us up.

⁷We escaped like a bird

from the hunter’s trap.

The trap broke,

and we escaped.

⁸Our help comes from the Lord,

who made heaven and earth.