They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit’s end.
Parallel translations
- WEB They reel back and forth, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
- BSB They reeled and staggered like drunkards, and all their skill was useless.
- NKJV They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, And are at their wits’ end.
- NASB They reeled and staggered like a drunken person, And were at their wits’ end.
- NLT They reeled and staggered like drunkards and were at their wits’ end.
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
They reel and stagger like drunken men, at their wits' end.
Overview
The terrified sailors lose all steadiness and resourcefulness, utterly undone by the tempest. The phrase 'at their wits' end' captures the collapse of every human ability to cope. Such complete helplessness sets the stage for divine rescue, teaching that the end of human resources is often the door to God's deliverance.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Job 12:25They grope in the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man.
- Isa 29:9Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.
- Isa 19:3And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.
- Isa 19:14The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.
- Acts 27:15–20And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive.
- Job 37:20Shall it be told him that I speak? if a man speak, surely he shall be swallowed up.
- Isa 24:20The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
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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 107:27 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
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