Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.
Parallel translations
- WEB He awoke, and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
- KJV And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
- BSB Then Jesus got up and rebuked the wind and the sea. “Silence!” He commanded. “Be still!” And the wind died down, and it was perfectly calm.
- NASB And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.
- NLT When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm.
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
Jesus rebukes the wind and commands the sea to be still, and a great calm follows instantly.
Overview
With a word Jesus subdues the storm, exercising the authority the Old Testament ascribes to God alone, who stills the raging sea (Psalm 107:29). The immediate, total calm proves that creation obeys its Maker. This act reveals Jesus' divine identity and his power to bring peace into chaos.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Ps 107:29He makes the storm a calm, so that its waves are still.
- Ps 89:9You rule the pride of the sea. When its waves rise up, you calm them.
- Ps 29:10Yahweh sat enthroned at the Flood. Yes, Yahweh sits as King forever.
- Ps 65:7who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations.
- Jer 5:22Don’t you fear me?’ says Yahweh ‘Won’t you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it can’t pass it? and though its waves toss themselves, yet they can’t prevail; though they roar, yet they can’t pass over it.’
- Prov 8:29when he gave to the sea its boundary, that the waters should not violate his commandment, when he marked out the foundations of the earth;
- Job 38:11and said, ‘Here you may come, but no further. Here your proud waves shall be stayed?’
- Exod 14:22The children of Israel went into the middle of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand, and on their left.
- Ps 148:8lightning and hail, snow and clouds; stormy wind, fulfilling his word;
- Ps 104:7–9At your rebuke they fled. At the voice of your thunder they hurried away.
- Ps 93:3–4The floods have lifted up, Yahweh, the floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift up their waves.
- Exod 14:28–29The waters returned, and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even all Pharaoh’s army that went in after them into the sea. There remained not so much as one of them.
- Mark 9:25When Jesus saw that a multitude came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to him, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again!”
- Exod 14:16Lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go into the middle of the sea on dry ground.
- Nah 1:4He rebukes the sea, and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan languishes, and Carmel; and the flower of Lebanon languishes.
- Luke 4:39He stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her. Immediately she rose up and served them.
- Lam 3:31For the Lord will not cast off forever.
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Christ at the center
Mark drives urgently to the cross, showing Jesus the Son of God as the suffering Servant who 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'
How Mark 4:39 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
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