For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.
Parallel translations
- WEB For he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the floods.
- BSB For He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.
- NKJV For He has founded it upon the seas, And established it upon the waters.
- NASB For He has founded it upon the seas And established it upon the rivers.
- NLT For he laid the earth’s foundation on the seas and built it on the ocean depths.
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 founded the earth on the seas and established it on the waters. His creative power is the basis of his ownership.
Overview
The psalmist gives the reason for God's ownership: he himself founded and established the world, picturing the dry land set firm amid the waters. This reflects the creation account where God brings ordered habitable land out of the deep. The Creator's authority over all things is here affirmed, the same authority exercised through the eternal Son by whom all things hold together.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Jer 5:22Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?
- Gen 1:9–10And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
- Ps 136:6To him that stretched out the earth above the waters: for his mercy endureth for ever.
- Ps 104:5–6Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever.
- Job 38:4Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
- Ps 33:6By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.
- Jer 10:11–16Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.
- Job 38:8–11Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?
- 2 Pet 3:5–7For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
- Ps 96:10Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously.
- Gen 8:22While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
- Ps 93:1The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved.
- Ps 95:4In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.
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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 24:2 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.