Why read Psalm 123?
Read Psalm 123 to give thanks after danger and acknowledge the help you received. The image of a bird escaping a trap expresses deliverance and turns attention to the Creator of heaven and earth.
You can read this psalm when its themes speak to your circumstances, or as part of your regular reading of the Psalter. This explanation draws on the text itself; the psalm is not reserved for one particular need.
Psalm 123 opens the heart with the call “Had the Lord not been with...”. It is one of the 8-verse psalms in the 18th Kathisma and is recited both at services and in prayer at home — the Psalter being a foundational book for the Orthodox Christian.
The text of Psalm 123
1. Had the Lord not been with us, let Israel say!
2. Had the Lord not been with us, when people rose up against us,
3. They would have swallowed us alive, when their anger burned against us.
4. The water would have drowned us, a torrent would have swept over our soul.
5. Then terrifying waves would have swept over our soul.
6. Blessed is the Lord, who did not give us as prey to their teeth.
7. Our soul escaped like a bird from the hunters’ snare; the snare was broken and we were delivered.
8. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
When Psalm 123 is read
- It belongs to the 18th Kathisma and may be read daily alongside the prayer rule (see the morning and evening prayers).
- At the end of each psalm, tradition adds: «Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.».
Adjacent psalms
The numbering follows the Orthodox Psalter (Septuagint). The same psalm may have a different number in other Bible editions.
