Psalms 94:17
Unless the LORD had been my helper, I would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence.
BSB
ASV
Unless Jehovah had been my help, My soul had soon dwelt in silence.
KJV
Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
"Unless the Lord had helped me, my soul had almost dwelt in hell." For this reason, O Lord, I rise again, because you were among the dead and rose again. My soul would have been held fast among the dead, if your soul had not risen again from the dead.
Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence. Without Jehovah's help, the psalmist declares that he should have died outright, and gone into the silent land, where no more testimonies can be borne for the living God. Or he may mean that he would not have had a word to speak against his enemies, but would have been wrapped in speechless shame. Blessed be God, we are not left to that condition yet, for the Almighty Lord is still the helper of all those who look to him.
The walk8
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
Psalms 118:13I was pushed so hard I was falling, but the LORD helped me.
leads to
Guard me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked. Keep me safe from men of violence who scheme to make me stumble.
Show me a sign of Your goodness, that my enemies may see and be ashamed; for You, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me.
Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will arise; though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light.
Through
Psalms 13:3Consider me and respond, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death,
leads to
But now, for a brief moment, grace has come from the LORD our God to preserve for us a remnant and to give us a stake in His holy place. Even in our bondage,…
For You, O LORD, light my lamp; my God lights up my darkness.
While they are flushed with heat, I will serve them a feast, and I will make them drunk so that they may revel; then they will fall asleep forever and never wake up, declares…
“My father has brought trouble to the land,” Jonathan replied. “Just look at how my eyes have brightened because I tasted a little of this honey.
Through
Psalms 31:17O LORD, let me not be ashamed, for I have called on You. Let the wicked be put to shame; let them lie silent in Sheol.
leads to
in You, my God, I trust. Do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me.