Zeidon (זֵידוֹן, H2121) means raging, boiling, insolent, overbearing — describing water or waves that surge violently out of control. It appears in Psalm 124:5: 'the raging waters would have swept us away.' The root zud or zid (H2102) means to boil, seethe, or act presumptuously. The imagery evokes uncontrollable force — whether literal floodwaters or the metaphorical torrents of enemies and pride.
Psalm 124 is a song of ascent — a pilgrimage psalm sung on the way to Jerusalem — that celebrates God's deliverance from overwhelming odds. The use of zeidon ('raging waters') to describe Israel's enemies is part of a broader biblical motif where chaos, threat, and opposition are pictured as surging, threatening waters (Psalm 46:3; Isaiah 8:7–8; Revelation 17:15). The theological point is critical: the God of Israel rules over the waters. He who said 'Let there be' at creation (Genesis 1:2 — 'the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters') also speaks 'Peace, be still' to literal and figurative storms (Mark 4:39). When the raging (zeidon) threatens to overwhelm, the psalm's answer is: 'Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth' (Psalm 124:8).