He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.
Parallel translations
- WEB He bowed the heavens also, and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet.
- BSB He parted the heavens and came down with dark clouds beneath His feet.
- NKJV He bowed the heavens also, and came down With darkness under His feet.
- NASB He also bowed the heavens down low, and came down With thick darkness under His feet.
- NLT He opened the heavens and came down; dark storm clouds were beneath his feet.
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
God parts the heavens and descends with thick darkness beneath his feet. It matters because it pictures God himself coming down to rescue his servant.
Overview
David envisions Yahweh bowing the heavens and coming down, with dark storm clouds beneath his feet. The picture conveys both God's transcendence and his nearness in acting to save. That the exalted God stoops to deliver his people anticipates the ultimate condescension of God coming down in the incarnation of Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Ps 144:5–15Bow thy heavens, O LORD, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.
- 2 Sam 22:10He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness was under his feet.
- 2 Pet 3:10But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
- Deut 33:26There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky.
- Matt 24:29Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
- Heb 12:26Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
- Rev 20:11And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
- Mark 15:33And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
- John 13:7Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.
- Joel 3:16The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.
- Deut 5:22–23These words the LORD spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me.
- Isa 51:6Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.
- Ps 68:4Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 18:9 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.