When I speak to the rivers and say, ‘Dry up!’ they will be dry.
Parallel translations
- WEB who says to the deep, ‘Be dry,’ and ‘I will dry up your rivers;’
- KJV That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy 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.
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 on her waters, and they shall be dried up; for it is a land of engraved images, and they are mad over idols.
- Isa 42:15I will destroy mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs. I will make the rivers islands, and will dry up the pools.
- Jer 51:36Therefore Yahweh says: “Behold, I will plead your cause, and take vengeance for you. I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry.
- Rev 16:12The sixth poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates. Its water was dried up, that the way might be prepared for the kings that come from the sunrise.
- Isa 11:15–16Yahweh will utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his scorching wind he will wave his hand over the River, and will split it into seven streams, and cause men to march over in sandals.
- Isa 43:16Yahweh, who makes a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters says:
- Jer 51:32So the passages are seized. They have burned the reeds with fire. The men of war are frightened.”
- Ps 74:15You opened up spring and stream. You dried up mighty rivers.
- Isa 51:15For I am Yahweh your God, who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar: Yahweh of Armies 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.