So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts.
Parallel translations
- WEB There is the sea, great and wide, in which are innumerable living things, both small and large animals.
- BSB Here is the sea, vast and wide, teeming with creatures beyond number, living things both great and small.
- NKJV This great and wide sea, In which are innumerable teeming things, Living things both small and great.
- NASB There is the sea, great and broad, In which are swarms without number, Animals both small and great.
- NLT Here is the ocean, vast and wide, teeming with life of every kind, both large and small.
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
The great wide sea teems with innumerable creatures, both small and great. Even the vast ocean displays God's boundless creativity.
Overview
The psalmist turns to the sea, marveling at its countless living things beyond number. What ancient peoples often feared as chaos, he sees as full of God's life and order. The Lord of this teeming deep is the Christ who commands the seas and gathers His people from every nation as fishers of men.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ps 69:34Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and every thing that moveth therein.
- Ps 95:4–5In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.
- Gen 1:28And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
- Acts 28:5And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.
- Deut 33:14–16And for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon,
- Gen 1:20–22And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
- Gen 3:1Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
- Deut 33:19They shall call the people unto the mountain; there they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness: for they shall suck of the abundance of the seas, and of treasures hid in the sand.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 104:25 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.