The Eastern Cross/Bible/Psalms/Psalm 123
The Book of Psalms · the Psalter
Psalm 124 in the KJV and most English Bibles
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A Song of Degrees. If it had not been that the Lord was among us, Let Israel now say;
Ὠδὴ τῶν ἀναβαθμῶν. Εἰ μὴ ὅτι Κύριος ἦν ἐν ἡμῖν, εἰπάτω δὴ Ἰσραὴλ,
"If the Lord Himself had not been in us, now may Israel say"...When? "When men rose up against us". Marvel not: they have been subdued: for they were men; but the Lord was in us, man was not in us: for men rose up against us. Nevertheless men would crush other men, unless in those men who could not be crushed, there…
If it had not been that the Lord was among us, When men rose up against us;
εἰ μὴ ὅτι Κύριος ἦν ἐν ἡμῖν, ἐν τῷ ἐπαναστῆναι ἀνθρώπους ἐφʼ ἡμᾶς,
Verily they would have swallowed us up alive, When their wrath was kindled against us:
ἄρα ζῶντας ἂν κατέπιον ἡμᾶς· ἐν τῷ ὀργισθῆναι τὸν θυμὸν αὐτῶν ἐφʼ ἡμᾶς,
"Perchance they had swallowed us up quick". "Swallowed us up:" they would not first have slain us, and so have swallowed us up. O inhuman, O cruel men! The Church swallows not thus. To Peter it was said, " Kill and eat:" [Acts 10:13] not, Swallow quick. Because no man enters into the body of the Church, save he be…
..."When their fury was enraged upon us." They are now in anger, they now openly rage: "perchance the water had drowned us" (ver. 4). By water he meaneth ungodly nations: and we shall see what sort of water in the following verses. Whoever had consented unto them, water would have overwhelmed him. For he would die by…
Verily the water would have drowned us, Our soul would have gone under the torrent.
ἄρα τὸ ὕδωρ ἂν κατεπόντισεν ἡμᾶς· χείμαῤῥον διῆλθεν ἡ ψυχὴ ἡμῶν.
In the first place, what meaneth, "Perchance our soul hath passed over"?. Understand however the meaning to be this: "Thinkest thou our soul hath passed over?" and why do they say, "Thinkest thou"? Because the greatness of the danger maketh it hardly credible that he hath escaped. They have endured a great death: they…
Let them escape the water without substance, and say, "Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us over for a prey unto their teeth". For the hunters were following, and had placed a bait in their trap. What bait? The sweetness of this life, so that each man for the sake of the sweetness of this life may thrust his…
"Our soul is escaped, even as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers". Because the Lord was in the soul itself, therefore hath that soul escaped, even as a bird out of the snare of the fowler. Why like a bird? Because it had fallen heedlessly, like a bird; and it could say afterwards, God will forgive me. Unstable…
..."Our help standeth in the Name of the Lord, who hath made heaven and earth". For if this were not our help, the snare would not indeed remain for ever; but when the bird was once taken, it would be crushed. For this life will pass away; and they who shall have been taken in by its pleasures, and through these…
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