First Version.

1 Had not the Lord been on our side,
may Israel now say;
2 Had not the Lord been on our side,
when men rose us to slay;

3 They had us swallowed quick, when as
their wrath 'gainst us did flame:
4 Waters had covered us, our soul
had sunk beneath the stream.

5 Then had the waters, swelling high,
over our soul made way.
6 Blessed be the Lord, who to their teeth
us gave not for a prey.

7 Our soul's escaped, as a bird
out of the fowler's snare;
The snare asunder broken is,
and we escaped are.

8 Our sure and all-sufficient help
is in Jehovah's name;
His name who did the heav'n create,
and who the earth did frame.

Second Version.

1 Now Israel may say, and that truly,
If that the Lord had not our cause maintained;
2 If that the Lord had not our right sustained,
When cruel men against us furiously
Rose up in wrath, to make of us their prey;

3 Then certainly they had devoured us all,
And swallowed quick, for ought that we could deem;
Such was their rage, as we might well esteem.
4 And as fierce floods before them all things drown,
So had they brought our soul to death quite down.

5 The raging streams, with their proud swelling waves,
Had then our soul o'erwhelmèd in the deep.
6 But blessed be God, who doth us safely keep,
And hath not giv'n us for a living prey
Unto their teeth, and bloody cruelty.

7 Ev'n as a bird out of the fowler's snare
Escapes away, so is our soul set free:
Broke are their nets, and thus escaped we.
8 Therefore our help is in the Lord's great name,
Who heav'n and earth by his great pow'r did frame.