Yes, the raging waters of their fury would have overwhelmed our very lives.
Parallel translations
- WEB then the proud waters would have gone over our soul.
- KJV Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.
- BSB then the raging waters would have swept us away.
- NKJV Then the swollen waters Would have gone over our soul.”
- NASB Then the raging waters would have swept over our souls.”
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
The proud, raging waters would have gone over their soul. The danger is restated to underscore how near destruction was.
Overview
Repeating and intensifying the flood image, the psalmist calls the waters 'proud,' picturing arrogant, surging forces bent on the people's ruin. The repetition drives home how complete the calamity would have been without God. Their rescue testifies that no proud power can overwhelm those whom God keeps in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Jer 5:22Don’t you fear me?’ says Yahweh ‘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 pass it? and though its waves toss themselves, yet they can’t prevail; though they roar, yet they can’t pass over it.’
- Job 38:11and said, ‘Here you may come, but no further. Here your proud waves shall be stayed?’
- Ps 93:3–4The floods have lifted up, Yahweh, the floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift up their waves.
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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 124:5 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.