Limitless Word
There is the sea, great and broad, In which are swarms without number, Animals both small and great.
Psalms 104:25 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB There is the sea, great and wide, in which are innumerable living things, both small and large animals.
  • KJV So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts.
  • 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.
  • 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 heaven and earth praise him; the seas, and everything that moves therein!
  • Ps 95:4–5In his hand are the deep places of the earth. The heights of the mountains are also his.
  • Gen 1:28God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
  • Acts 28:5However he shook off the creature into the fire, and wasn’t harmed.
  • Deut 33:14–16for the precious things of the fruits of the sun, for the precious things that the moon can yield,
  • Gen 1:20–22God said, “Let the waters abound with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.”
  • Gen 3:1Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?’”
  • Deut 33:19They will call the peoples to the mountain. There they will offer sacrifices of righteousness, for they will draw out the abundance of the seas, the hidden treasures of the sand.”

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 104:25YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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.