1 Now Israel may say, and that truly,
if that the Lord had not our cause maintained;
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;
2 Then certainly they had devoured us all,
and swallowed quick, for aught that we could deem;
such was their rage, as we might well esteem.
And as fierce floods before them all things drown,
so had they brought our soul to death quite down.
3 The raging streams, with their proud swelling waves,
had then our soul o'erwhelmèd in the deep.
But blest be God, who doth us safely keep,
and hath not given us for a living prey
unto their teeth, and bloody cruelty.
4 Even as a bird out of the fowler's snare
escapes away, so is our soul set free:
broke are their nets, and thus escapèd we.
Therefore our help is in the Lord's great Name,
who heaven and earth by his great power did frame.
Source: Church Hymnary, Fourth Edition #84
