Psalms 124:8
in Psalms 124Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Our help is in the name of Jehovah, Who made heaven and earth.
KJV
Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
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This verse in Psalms 124
Commentary
10 notes on this verseOur help is in the name of the Lord,.... This is the conclusion the church draws from the scene of Providence in her favour; this is the instruction she learns from hence, that her help is in the Lord only, and not in any creature; and that it is right to put her trust and confidence in the Lord for it, and only to expect it from him whose name is in himself; and is a strong tower to flee unto for safety, Pro 18:
This site's exposition
Our help is in the name
The psalm ends on the confession of Psalm 121:2, help in the name of the LORD, Maker of heaven and earth. Psalm 121:2 puts the confession in the singular, and this verse puts it in the plural. The waters and the snare came out of what He made.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
..."Our help standeth in the Name of the Lord, who hath made heaven and earth" [Psalm 124:8]. 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 pleasures have offended God, will pass away with this life. For the snare will be broken; be ye assured of this: all the sweetness of this present life will no longer exist, when the lot assigned to it hath been fulfilled; but we must not be enthralled by it, so that when the net is broken, thou mayest then rejoice and say, "The snare is broken, and we are delivered." But lest thou think that thou canst do this of thy own strength, consider whose work thy deliverance is (for if thou art proud, thou fallest into the snare), and say, "Our help standeth in the Name of the Lord, who hath made heaven and earth."...
Therefore, heaven and earth are called the world. He does not blame the world itself who says: Do not love the world; for he who blames this world blames the maker of the world. Hear the world named twice in the same place under different meanings. It was said of the Lord Christ: He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him. The world was made through him: Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth [Psalm 124:8]. The world was made through him: I lift my eyes to the mountains, from where help will come to me. My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. This world was made by God, and the world did not know him. Which world did not know him? The lover of the world, the admirer of the work, the despiser of the maker.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
): Our help is in the name of the Lord. David had directed us ( Ps. cxxi. 2 ) to depend upon God for help as to our personal concerns-- My help is in the name of the Lord; here as to the concerns of the public--Our help is so.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
No marvel that the red dragon, the roaring lion, should seek to swallow us up; but that men should thirst after the blood of men, Absalom after the blood of his own father, that a woman should be drunk with the blood of saints, is what, with St. John, we may wonder at with great admiration. From men we may expect humanity, yet there are those whose tender mercies are cruel.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Our help, our hope for the future, our ground of confidence in all trials present and to come. Is in the name of the Lord. Jehovah's revealed character is our foundation of confidence, his person is our sure fountain of strength. Who made heaven and earth. Our Creator is our preserver. He is immensely great in his creating work; he has not fashioned a few little things alone, but all heaven and the whole round earth are the works of his hands. When we worship the Creator let us increase our trust in our Comforter.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
Our help, our hope for the future, our ground of confidence in all trials present and to come. Is in the name of the Lord. Jehovah's revealed character is our foundation of confidence, his person is our sure fountain of strength. Who made heaven and earth. Our Creator is our preserver. He is immensely great in his creating work; he has not fashioned a few little things alone, but all heaven and the whole round earth are the works of his hands. When we worship the Creator let us increase our trust in our Comforter. Did he create all that we see, and can he not preserve us from evils which we cannot see Blessed be his name, he that has fashioned us will watch over us; yea, he has done so, and rendered us help in the moment of jeopardy. He is our help and our shield, even he alone. He will to the end break every snare. He made heaven for us, and he will keep us for heaven; he made the earth, and he will succour us ripen it until the hour cometh for our departure. Every work of his hand preaches to us the duty and the delight of reposing upon him only. All nature cries, "Trust ye in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah there is everlasting strength." "Wherefore comfort one another with these words." The following versification of the sense rather than the words of this psalm is presented to the reader with much diffidence:
Our help is in the name of the Lord - בשום מימרא דיי beshum meywra depai, Chaldee, “In the name of the Word of the Lord.” So in the second verse, “Unless the Word of the Lord had been our Helper:” the substantial Word; not a word spoken, or a prophecy delivered, but the person who was afterwards termed Ὁ Λογος του Θεου, the Word of God. This deliverance of the Jews appears to me the most natural interpretation of this Psalm: and probably Mordecai was the author.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Our help is in the name of the Lord - In the Lord; in the great Yahweh. See Psa 121:2. Who made heaven and earth - The great Creator; the true God. Our deliverances have led us up to him. They are such as can be ascribed to him alone. They could not have come from ourselves; from our fellow-men; from angels; from any or all created beings. Often in life, when delivered from danger, we may feel this; we always may feel this, and should feel this, when we think of the redemption of our souls. That is a work which we of ourselves could never have performed; which could not have been done for us by our fellow-men; which no angel could have accomplished; which all creation combined could not have worked out; which could have been effected by no one but by him who “made heaven and earth;” by him who created all things. See Col 1:13-17.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עֶ֭זְרֵנוּ | ʾezrenu | help our | H5828 → | 21 times |
| בְּשֵׁ֣ם | beshem | [is] in [the] name of | H8034 → | 864 times |
| יְהוָ֑ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| עֹ֝שֵׂ֗ה | ʾoseh | maker of | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| שָׁמַ֥יִם | shamayim | heaven | H8064 → | 421 times |
| וָאָֽרֶץ׃ | vaaretz | and earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
עֶ֭זְרֵנוּhelp our
ʾezrenuH5828 →21 times
בְּשֵׁ֣ם[is] in [the] name of
beshemH8034 →864 times
יְהוָ֑הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
עֹ֝שֵׂ֗הmaker of
ʾosehH6213 →2628 times
שָׁמַ֥יִםheaven
shamayimH8064 →421 times
וָאָֽרֶץ׃and earth
vaaretzH776 →2504 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Genesis 1:1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
it leads to
- John 1:1–3
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
- Hebrews 11:3
By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
- Isaiah 45:18
For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens—He is God; He formed the earth and fashioned it; He established it; He did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be…
- Revelation 4:11
“Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things; by Your will they exist and came to be.”
- Hebrews 1:10
And: “In the beginning, O Lord, You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.
- John 1:1–3
Through
Jeremiah 32:17“Oh, Lord GOD! You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You!
it leads to
- Luke 1:37
For no word from God will ever fail.”
- Jeremiah 32:27
“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for Me?
- Luke 1:37
Through
Psalms 121:2My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
it leads to
- Isaiah 41:13
For I am the LORD your God, who takes hold of your right hand and tells you: Do not fear, I will help you.
- Isaiah 41:13
About Psalms
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 124; Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 313A; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 6; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.