“The dead tremble— those who live beneath the waters.
Parallel translations
- WEB “The departed spirits tremble, those beneath the waters and all that live in them.
- KJV Dead things are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof.
- BSB The dead tremble—those beneath the waters and those who dwell in them.
- NKJV “The dead tremble, Those under the waters and those inhabiting them.
- NASB ¶“The departed spirits are made to tremble Under the waters and their inhabitants.
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
Job declares that the dead tremble beneath the waters before God. It matters because even the realm of the dead is subject to God.
Overview
Job begins his hymn to God's power by noting that the departed spirits, those beneath the waters, shudder at God. The unseen world of the dead is not beyond His reach. This reminds us that God's sovereignty extends even to the grave, a dominion fully displayed when Christ conquered death itself.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Ps 88:10Do you show wonders to the dead? Do the departed spirits rise up and praise you? Selah.
- Gen 6:4The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when God’s sons came in to men’s daughters and had children with them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
- Job 41:1–34“Can you draw out Leviathan with a fish hook, or press down his tongue with a cord?
- Ezek 29:3–5Speak and say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster that lies in the middle of his rivers, that has said, ‘My river is my own, and I have made it for myself.’
- Ps 104:25–26There is the sea, great and wide, in which are innumerable living things, both small and large animals.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 26:5 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.