Psalm 124:8

Context

Psalms 124 bears the superscription "A Song of degrees of David." "Song of degrees," also rendered "Song of Ascents," is the title given to Psalms 120–134. This collection has traditionally been understood as songs that pilgrims sang while going up to Jerusalem. The psalm is traditionally read as a psalm of David, although some scholars regard it as a later composition on the basis of its linguistic features.

The psalm opens with a repeated hypothetical: "If it had not been the LORD who was on our side." It then compares the crisis the community faced to engulfing waters and to the snare of the fowler, and it gives thanks for deliverance from that crisis. Verse 8 gathers this thanksgiving into a single concluding sentence: "Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth" (Psalm 124:8). Because its subject is "our," the verse is a communal confession.

Interpretation

• Historical reading: This reading treats the verse as a confession that looks back on Israel's concrete experience of surviving enemy attack and ascribes that deliverance to God.
• Creation-faith reading: This reading focuses on the phrase "who made heaven and earth." Its logic is that the One who made heaven and earth is greater than any enemy or crisis. The same expression appears in other psalms of the collection, including Psalms 121 and 134. In this reading, the verse is a text that links creation and providence.
• Reading of "the name": In the Old Testament, God's "name" refers to His presence and character. Accordingly, "in the name of the LORD" is understood to mean reliance on God Himself.
• Liturgical reading: The orders of worship that John Calvin compiled for Strasbourg and Geneva are known to have opened worship with this verse. Many Reformed churches have continued the practice, using the verse as a "call to worship" or as the votum, a declaration of vow and confession. Reformed writers explain it as a confession that worship begins not with human strength but with God's help. The Catholic Church has also used the verse as a versicle, a short prayer exchanged between priest and congregation, in liturgies such as the Liturgy of the Hours and blessings.

Questions of Application

The verse has caused little interpretive dispute among denominations, but several questions have been raised.

• The verse was originally a confession made by the community together. Some ask whether it is appropriate to read it only as a verse of personal comfort.
• Some caution against treating it like an incantation, as though merely invoking "the name of God" guaranteed help.

In Korean Churches

In some Korean Presbyterian churches, the worship leader reads this verse at the beginning of the order of worship as the "call to worship." This usage is reportedly most common in churches that emphasize the Reformed tradition. Korean Christians also frequently cite the verse as a verse of comfort, together with Psalm 121:1–2 from the same collection.

Related Passages

• Psalm 121:1–2
• Psalm 134:3
• Psalm 146:5–6
• Psalm 46:1
• Jeremiah 3:23