then the floods would have engulfed us, then the torrent would have overwhelmed us,
Parallel translations
- WEB then the waters would have overwhelmed us, the stream would have gone over our soul;
- KJV Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:
- NKJV Then the waters would have overwhelmed us, The stream would have gone over our soul;
- NASB Then the waters would have flooded over us, The stream would have swept over our souls;
- NLT The waters would have engulfed us; a torrent would have overwhelmed us.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Without God, the floodwaters would have overwhelmed them. Engulfing waters picture the overwhelming danger from which God rescued them.
Overview
Shifting to a new image, the psalmist says the 'waters' and 'stream' would have swept over their very soul. Flood imagery vividly conveys being swallowed by chaos and death. God's deliverance from such overwhelming peril points to His power to save His people through every flood, secured in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Ps 69:15Do not let the floods engulf me or the depths swallow me up; let not the Pit close its mouth over me.
- Rev 17:15Then the angel said to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute was seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.
- Rev 12:15–16Then from the mouth of the serpent spewed water like a river to overtake the woman and sweep her away in the torrent.
- Ps 32:6Therefore let all the godly pray to You while You may be found. Surely when great waters rise, they will not come near.
- Isa 59:19So shall they fear the name of the LORD where the sun sets, and His glory where it rises. For He will come like a raging flood, driven by the breath of the LORD.
- Isa 8:7–8the Lord will surely bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates—the king of Assyria and all his pomp. It will overflow its channels and overrun its banks.
- Ps 69:2I have sunk into the miry depths, where there is no footing; I have drifted into deep waters, where the flood engulfs me.
- Jer 46:7–8Who is this, rising like the Nile, like rivers whose waters churn?
- Ps 18:4The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of chaos overwhelmed me.
- Dan 9:26Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing. Then the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations have been decreed.
- Isa 28:2Behold, the Lord has one who is strong and mighty. Like a hailstorm or destructive tempest, like a driving rain or flooding downpour, he will smash that crown to the ground.
- Ps 42:7Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and waves have rolled over me.
- Rev 17:1Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters.
- Job 22:11it is so dark you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 124:4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.