Bible Strands
Psalms 124:6
Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as prey to their teeth.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist speaks on behalf of a community that has just survived a threat, situated between the description of raging waters and the simile of escaping a bird snare. This moment marks a transition from near-destruction to survival.
The words — The Hebrew term טֶ֝֗רֶף (te.ref) literally means "prey," paired with לְ/שִׁנֵּי/הֶֽם (le/shi.nei/Hem) for "to their teeth." This phrasing depicts enemies prepared to consume the speaker as hunted game.
The thread — The motif of divine rescue from predatory pursuit appears in Exodus 15:9, where enemies vow to gorge themselves on the defeated, and Psalms 118:13, where the psalmist recalls being pushed to the brink before Yahweh intervenes. These passages share the theme of Yahweh halting fatal pursuit.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that survival is not self-generated but the result of Yahweh withholding destruction. It requires the reader to attribute continued life to divine restraint rather than personal merit.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.
Cross-references
- Psalms 118:13 I was pushed so hard I was falling, but the LORD helped me.
- Exodus 15:9 The enemy declared, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword; my hand will destroy them.’
- Psalms 145:5 the glorious splendor of Your majesty. And I will meditate on Your wondrous works.
- Isaiah 10:14 My hand reached as into a nest to seize the wealth of the nations. Like one gathering abandoned eggs, I gathered all the earth. No wing fluttered, no beak opened or chirped.’”
- Psalms 17:9 from the wicked who assail me, from my mortal enemies who surround me.
- 1 Samuel 26:20 So do not let my blood fall to the ground far from the presence of the LORD. For the king of Israel has come out to look for a flea, like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains.”
- Judges 5:30 ‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoil—a girl or two for each warrior, a plunder of dyed garments for Sisera, the spoil of embroidered garments for the neck of the looter?’