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Praise Him, O highest heavens, and you waters above the skies.
Psalms 148:4 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Praise him, you heavens of heavens, You waters that are above the heavens.
  • KJV Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens.
  • NKJV Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, And you waters above the heavens!
  • NASB Praise Him, highest heavens, And the waters that are above the heavens!
  • NLT Praise him, skies above! Praise him, vapors high above the clouds!

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 highest heavens and the waters above are called to praise God. Even the most exalted and remote parts of creation owe Him worship.

Overview

The 'heavens of heavens' and the waters above join the summons to praise, sweeping in the whole created order. Nothing in creation is exempt from owing God worship. All of it exists by the will and word of the Creator, who upholds it in Christ (Hebrews 1:3).

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 9

  • 1 Kgs 8:27But will God indeed dwell upon the earth? Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.
  • Gen 1:7So God made the expanse and separated the waters beneath it from the waters above. And it was so.
  • Deut 10:14Behold, to the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, and the earth and everything in it.
  • Neh 9:6You alone are the LORD. You created the heavens, the highest heavens with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to all things, and the host of heaven worships You.
  • Ps 68:33to Him who rides upon the highest heavens of old; behold, His mighty voice resounds.
  • Gen 7:11In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.
  • Ps 113:6He humbles Himself to behold the heavens and the earth.
  • Ps 104:3laying the beams of His chambers in the waters above, making the clouds His chariot, walking on the wings of the wind.
  • 2 Cor 12:2I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of it I do not know, but God knows.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

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 148:4YouTube · 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 148:4 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.