That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers:
Parallel translations
- WEB who says to the deep, ‘Be dry,’ and ‘I will dry up your rivers;’
- BSB who says to the depths of the sea, ‘Be dry, and I will dry up your currents,’
- NKJV Who says to the deep, ‘Be dry! And I will dry up your rivers’;
- NASB “I am the One who says to the depth of the sea, ‘Dry up!’ And I will make your rivers dry up.
- NLT When I speak to the rivers and say, ‘Dry up!’ they will be dry.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God commands the deep and the rivers to dry up at His word. It displays His absolute authority over the waters that stand in His people's way.
Overview
Echoing the Exodus and anticipating Babylon's fall, God can dry up any barrier. The drying of rivers may also hint at the conquest of Babylon, which lay among waters. This sovereign command over creation assures His people that nothing can hinder the deliverance He purposes, fully realized in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Jer 50:38A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.
- Isa 42:15I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.
- Jer 51:36Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry.
- Rev 16:12And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
- Isa 11:15–16And the LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod.
- Isa 43:16Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters;
- Jer 51:32And that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.
- Ps 74:15Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.
- Isa 51:15But I am the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is his name.
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 44:27 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.